r 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 

BX  9225  .P74  P74  1888 
Prime,  Samuel  Iren  us,  1812- 
1885. 
skeif. Samuel  Irenaeus  Prime 


<^^^-i^^^  <^::^^i^^t.^ 


Samuel   Iren^us   Prime. 


autobtogrspi^p  mh  fl©emortal3. 


EDITED   BY   HIS   SON, 

WENDELL     PRIME. 


NEW    YORK: 
ANSON    D.   F.  RANDOLPH   &   COMPANY, 

38  West  Twenty-Third  Street. 


Copyright,  1888, 
By  Wendell  Prime. 


Slnfbtrsfti)  ^3ic3s: 
John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge. 


INTRODUCTORY. 


OAMUEL  IREN^US  PRIME,  the  son  of 
the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Scudder  Prime,  D.D., 
and  Julia  Ann  Jermain,  his  wife,  was  born  at 
Ballston,  N.  Y.,  Nov.  4,  1812.  In  his  infancy, 
the  parents  of  Irenaeus  removed  to  Cambridge, 
Washington  County,  N.  Y.,  where  he  spent  his 
boyhood,  his  father  being  pastor  of  the  Presby- 
terian Church  known  as  "the  Old  White  Meeting- 
house." 

When  not  yet  fourteen  years  old  he  entered 
Williams  College,  and  was  graduated  in  1829, 
before  he  was  seventeen.  After  three  years  spent 
in  teaching,  he  studied  theology  in  the  Seminary 
at  Princeton,  and  was  licensed  to  preach  in  1833, 
his  first  sermon  being  preached  in  Bedford,  West- 
chester County,  N.  Y.  In  1835  he  was  ordained 
and  installed  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church 
in   Ballston  Spa,  Saratoga  County,  N.  Y.,  where 


iv  INTRODUCTORY. 

he  remained  a  year,  resigning  on  account  of  his 
health.  In  1837,  while  teaching  in  Newburgh, 
N.Y.,  he  became  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church  in  Matteawan,  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y., 
where  he  remained  three  years,  again  resigning 
in  consequence  of  ill-health. 

In  1840  he  became  editor  of  "The  New  York 
Observer,"  removing  to  New  York  City,  and 
soon  after  to  Newark,  N.J.  In  1850  he  removed 
to  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  where  he  resided  until  1858, 
when  he  became  a  resident  of  New  York  City. 
In  1858  Dr.  Prime  became  a  proprietor  of  the 
paper  of  which  he  had  been  the  editor  since  1840, 
with  the  exception  of  the  year  1849,  in  which  he 
was  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  American  Bible 
Society,  and  the  year  1850,  during  which  he  was 
an  editor  of  "  The  Presbyterian."  His  editorial 
w^ork  and  varied  activities  continued  until  within 
a  few  days  of  his  death,  which  occurred  in  Man- 
chester, Vt,  July  18,  1885.  An  influential  editor, 
an  able  preacher,  an  indefatigable  and  judicious 
man  of  affairs,  he  was  pre-eminently  a  popular 
and  useful  writer,  whose  name  and  person  have 
been  widely  known  and  greatly  loved  during  the 
latter  part  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

After  my  father's  death  I  found  among  his 
papers  a  few  letters,  ready  for  publication,  pre- 
faced with  the  following  note :  — 


INTRODUCTORY.  V 

Christmas  Eve,  1880. 

It  is  my  purpose,  life  and  health  permitting,  to  write 
a  series  of  papers,  being  "recollections  of  other  years." 

They  are  designed  to  lie  ?/;^published  until  my  con- 
nection with  "The  New  York  Observer"  is  closed.  By 
that  event  they  will  pass  into  the  hands  of  those  who 
may  use  them  as  a  series  of  "  Irenaeus  Letters." 

S.  Iren/eus  Prime. 

My  disappointment  on  finding  that  only  a  few 
of  these  papers  had  been  prepared  was  relieved  by 
finding  a  large  folio  note-book  in  which  my  father 
had  written  personal  recollections,  extending  to 
the  time  of  his  entrance  upon  his  life-work  on 
"The  New  York  Observer."  From  the  first  few 
pages  of  this  autograph  note-book  he  had  pre- 
pared the  first  few  letters  of  the  series  in  con- 
templation. It  was  a  matter  of  little  difficulty  for 
me  to  prepare  a  continuous  autobiographical  nar- 
rative from  the  remainder  of  the  book,  all  of 
which  was  printed  in  "The  New  York  Observer" 
during  the  year  1886. 

It  is  this  series  of  papers  which  forms  Part 
First  of  these  memoirs. 

WENDELL   PRIME. 


CONTENTS. 
Hart   Jftrst. 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 


I.  — MY   PARENTS   AND   ANCESTORS. 

Page 
Sag  Harbor.  —  Nathaniel  Scudder   Prime.— Julia  Ann  Jer- 
main.  —  Benjamin    Young    Prime.  —  Ebenezer    Prime.  — 
Huntington,  Long  Island 3 

II.  — MY    FATHER'S    COLLEGE    LIFE. 

Nathaniel  Scudder. —Samuel  Stanhope  Smith.  —  Ministers' 
Families. — Judge  William  Strong 9 

III.— MY   BIRTHPLACE. 

Ballston    Centre.  —  Rev.    Stephen    Porter.  —  Milton,    Cam- 
bridge, N.Y 14 

IV. —  BEGINNING   TO    LEARN. 

My  Father's  Study.  —  Tobacco-Smoke.  —The  Schoolmaster. 
—  Scripture  Readings ig 

v.  — MY   SCHOOL-DAYS. 

Latin,  Greek,  and  Hebrew.  —  School  Examination.  —  Prepar- 
ing for  College.  —  Levi  Parsons 25 


viii  CONTENTS. 

VI.   -LIFE    IN    THE    HOME. 

Page 

Ministers    and    Missionaries.  —  Emotion    and    \'irgil.       My 

Mother's  Temperament.  —  Disobedience  and  Detection  30 

VII.  — EARLY    RECOLLECTIONS. 

The   Sleigh    Ride.  —  Diversities    of    Character.  —  Sensitive- 
ness. —  Frightening  Children 34 

VIII.  — MY    FATHER'S    CHURCH. 

Old   Cambridge. —The    Pines.  —  The  Old   White    Meeting- 
house.—Square  Pews.  —  Samuel  in  the  Pulpit   ....     38 

IX.  — IN    THE   GRAVEYARD. 

Swallows. — Summer  Services.  —  Among  the  Tombs.  —  The 
Sabbath  Question.  —  Country  Funerals.  —  City  Burials      .     43 

X.  —  OUR    MINISTER. 

The    Violated    Grave.  —  Nathaniel    Scudder    Prime.  —  His 
Mighty  Voice. — An  Irreverent  Hearer 4S 

XI.  — PREACHER   AND    PASTOR. 

A  True  Shepherd. —"  Saying  the   Catechism.'' —  Preaching 
the  Doctrines 53 

XII.— PASTORAL   WORK. 

"Fixing   Up."  —  Profitable    Interviews.  —  Faithful    Admoni- 
tions. —  Household  Gatherings.  —  A  Godly  Community     •     57 

XIII.  — PASTOR    AND    PEOPLE. 

Moral   Courage.    -  Home  Revisited.  —  Independent    Men.  — 
Holy  Living "' 


CONTENTS.  ix 

XIV.  — EARLY   TEMPERANCE    REFORM. 

Page 
Rum    and    Harvesting.  —  Drunkards   then   and   now.  —  The 
Faithful  Elder.  —  Laughing  in  Church 65 

XV. —  ELDERS    AND    PEOPLE. 

*     AA   Exciting  Incident.  —  Kirtland  Warner.  —  Abraham  Van 

Tuyl.  —  Old  Jack 69 

XVI.— OUR   CHOIR. 

The  Village  Gossip.  —  The  Red  Tavern.  —  Deacon  Small.  — 
The  Rebellion 73 

XVII— THE   SINGING-SCHOOL. 

The   New  .Teacher. — The   Musical  War.  —  The   Shameful 
Defeat.  —  Grieving  the  Spirit 77 

XVIII.— SACRED    MUSIC. 

Lowell  Mason.  —  Praise  offerings.  —  Competent  Teaching.  — 
Unsuitable  Leaders.  —  Acceptable  Worship 81 

XIX. —  THE    DANCING-SCHOOL. 

Congregational  Singing.  —  Rural  Dancing.  —  The  Grand  Ball. 
—  Solemn  Dancers.  —  The  Funeral  Sermon 86 

XX.  — BEGINNINGS    OF   REVIVAL. 

Household   Meetings.  —  Conversion  of   Children.  —  Clerical 
Meetings gi 


X  CONTENTS. 

XXI.  — HINDRANCES    TO    REVIVAL. 

Page 
The  Gospel   Call.  —  Power  of  Prayer.  —  "  Fourth  of  July  " 

Ball. —  The  Prayer-Meeting 96 

XXII.  — FIGHTING    THE    REVIVAL. 

The  Horse-Race.  —  Thunder  of  the  Pulpit.  —  Lightning  of 
the  Law.  —  Meetings  and  Visits 'O' 

XXIII.  — THE    REVIVAL   WORK. 

Its  Thoroughness.  —  The  Stubborn  Heart.  —  Blessed  Remi- 
niscences.—  How  to  win  Souls 105 

XXIV. —SPINNING-BEES. 

Varied  Offerings.  —  Social  Pleasures.  —  Supper  and  Services. 
—  Practical  Results ' 'o 

XXV.  — RURAL   PLEASURES. 

Apple-Paring    Bees.  —  Youthful    Frolics.  —  Country  Wed- 
dings.—  Solemn  Ceremonies 116 

XXVL  — COUNTRY   AND    CITY 

Domestic  Games.  —  Corn-huskings.  —  Early    Influences.  — 

Country  Boys '-' 

XXVIL  — THE   SECRET    DISCIPLE. 

No  Religion.—  The  Pastor's  Visit.  —  The  Confession.  —  The 

Testimony.  —  Dying  Triumph •  26 

XXVIII.  — THE    FORGER. 

The    Young  Lawyer.  —  Beyond  his    Means.  —  Crime   and 

Flight. —  Love  and  Capture.  — Wages  of  Sin ij- 


CONTENTS.  xi 

XXIX.—  MY   FIRST   GRIEF. 

Page 
Early  Friends.  —  George  Williams.  —  Seeking  a  Saviour.  — 
Death    and    Sorrow.  —  Disappointment    and   Consecra- 
tion       i 138 

XXX. —ECCENTRIC    CHARACTERS. 

Fishing  Billy.  —  Salem  Jail.  —  Dr.  Bethune.  —  John  Duni- 
hue       143 

XXXI.  — PREPARING  FOR  COLLEGE. 

Preaching  and  Teaching.  —  The  Pine  Forest.  —  Early  Aspi- 
rations.—  Middlebury  College  Commencement    ....     148 

XXXIL— THE    FARM    AND    FARMER. 

The  Parsonage  Farm. — Annual  Visits. —  Codfish-Balls. — 
Elder  Warner.  —  School  Examined 153 

XXXIII.  — GOING   TO    COLLEGE. 

My  Mother's  Prayers. — The  Elder's  Horses.  —  The  Dis- 
senting Englishman.  —  Homesick  Views. —  Mark  Hop- 
kins's Oration.  —  Immature  Efforts 157 

XXXIV.  — THE  COLLEGE  REVIVAL. 

The  President's  Invitation.  —  The  Social  Meeting. —  Dr. 
Griffin's  Sermons.  —  Vain  Repetition 163 

XXXV.— AN  UNBELIEVING   CLASSMATE. 

Evil  Influences. —  Promising  Abilities.  —  The  Missionary  of 
Mount  Lebanon.  —  The  Arab  School.  —  A  Mother's 
Prayer .     167 


xii  CONTENTS. 

XXXVI.  — COLLEGE    INCIDENTS. 

Page 

My  Conversion.  —  A  Solemn  Moment.  —  A  Prayer  Associa- 
tion. —  The  Incendiary.  —  Lowell  Smith.  —  Examination 
and  Graduation.  —  A  Father's  Drilling 171 

XXXVII.  — THE  YOUNG  TEACHER. 

My  Pupils. —  Self-Discipline.  — Judge  Pratt's  Story. —  Juve- 
nile Addresses.  —  Usefulness  and  Enjoyment 175 

XXXVIII.  — CHOOSING   A   PROFESSION. 

Early  struggles. —  Imitating  Tennent. —  Reading  Blackstone. 
—  The  Future  Governor 179 

XXXIX.  — SING   SING   ON   THE   HUDSON. 

My  Useful  Friend.  —  A  Religious  Warrior.  —  The  Prison 
Sunday-School.  —  The  French  Commissioners.  —  M.  de 
Tocqueville  on  the  Hudson 183 

XL.  — EXAMINED    BY   PRESBYTERY. 

Cholera  in  Prison. — The  Incorrigible  Youth.  —  Examina- 
tions by  Presbytery. —  Religion  and  Music 188 

XLI.  — STUDYING  AT  PRINCETON. 

Rev.  Mr.  Nettleton.  —  My  Room-mate.— Dr.  Miller.— Dr. 
Alexander.  —  His  Dying  Testimony 192 

XLIl.  — THE  WESTON  ACADEMY. 

The  Sick  Student.  —  The  Academy  Endowment.  —  Licensed 
to  Preach.  —  Married.  —  Teaching  and  Learning.  —  Tlie 
l?ible  Society  Address.  —  Preaching  at  Fairfield  ....     197 


CONTENTS.  xiii 

XLIII.  — WESTON  AND  FAIRFIELD. 

Page 
Roger    M.    Sherman.  —  Chief   Justice    Daggett.  —  Hartford 
Convention.  —  The  Disputed  Boundary.  —  A  Violent  Tem- 
per. —  Greenfield    Hill.  —  Bereavement   and    Discourage- 
ment       201 

XLIV.  —  MY  FIRST  PASTORATE. 

Ballston  Spa.  —  Youthful  Labors.  —  A  Cold  Winter.  —  The 
Weak  Convert.  —  Biblical  Discussion.  — An  Irreligious 
Husband 205 

XLV. —  THE  BALLSTON  CHURCH. 

Built  by  Two   Cents.  —  The  Candid   Patient.  —  Aaron  and 

Hur.  — Unhappy  Texts 210 

XLVL  — MY  BRIEF  PASTORATE. 

The  Dying  Mother.  —  Dr.  Kirk's  Advice.  —  Zeal  that  Con- 
sumed. —  Rest  and  Resignation.  —  Removal  to  Newburgh     214 

XLVII.  —  NEWBURGH-ON-THE-HUDSON. 

The     Academy.  —  Small-Pox.  —  Foreign    Missions.  —  Dr. 

Johnston.  —  Recovered  Health 219 

XLVIII.  —  MATTEAWAN. 

Installation.  —  Christian  Union.  —  Scenery  and  Summer.  — 
Church  and  People.  —  Observing  and  Recording      ...     222 

XLIX.  — MATTEAWAN  AND  NEWBURGH. 

Ride  to  West  Point.  —  Impromptu  Preaching.  —  After  Many 
Days.  —  Old  and  New  School 227 


L.- WRITING    FOR    THE    "OBSERVER 


231 


xiv  CONTENTS. 


IPart  ^cconb. 


Page 
RESIDENCE   IN   NEWARK 239 

fart    Cbtrb. 

RESIDENCE   IN    BROOKLYN 253 

|arl    goxxxib^. 

RESIDENCE    IN    NEW   YORK    CITY 277 

fart    Jftft^. 

PERSONAL   ASSOCIATIONS 3°! 

iart   Sbt^. 

DEATH    AND    COMMEMORATION 327 

APPENDIX 377 

INDEX 383 


Part  Mv^U 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY  AND  MEMORIALS 


Part  JTtrst 

AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 


I. 

MY   PARENTS    AND   ANCESTORS. 

Sag  Harbor.  —  Nathaniel  Scudder  Prime.  — Julia  Ann 
Jermain,  —  Benjamin  Young  Prime.  —  Ebenezer  Prime, 
Huntington,  Long   Island. 

TN  the  year  1807,  in  summer  time,  a  party  of  young 
ladies  and  gentlemen  were  bathing  in  the  surf  on 
the  beach  at  East  Hampton,  on  the  east  end  of  Long 
Island.  In  the  midst  of  the  frolic  which  they  were 
enjoying  in  the  water,  a  cry  was  suddenly  raised  that 
one  of  the  young  ladies  was  drowning.  She  had  been 
swept  beyond  her  depth  by  a  retiring  wave,  and  was 
unable  to  recover  her  footing.  The  whole  party  were 
panic-stricken,  and  not  one  had  sufficient  presence  of 
mind,  with  physical  ability,  to  rescue  the  one  in  peril 
of  her  life. 

On  the  beach  a  young  man,  comparatively  a  stranger, 
was  walking.  He  was  a  clergyman  who  had,  not  long 
before,  come  to  the  village  of  Sag  Harbor,  where  the 


SAMUEL   IREN.EUS    PRIME. 


party  belonged.  He  had  come  over  to  East  Hampton 
for  his  own  pleasure,  and  not  to  join  the  young  people 
who  were  now  in  the  surf.  But  he  heard  the  cry  of 
distress,  and  comprehending  the  case  in  an  instant,  he 
ran  to  the  water,  throwing  off  his  coat  as  he  ran.  He 
was  a  strong  swimmer,  a  powerful  athlete,  bold  and 
brave.  He  plunged  into  the  waves,  "  accoutred  as  he 
was,"  sought  the  drowning  girl,  and  bore  her  safely  and 
proudly  to  the  shore.  She  was  soon  restored  to  con- 
sciousness, and  was  carried  home  by  her  companion. 
The  gallant  young  man  who  had  saved  her  from  drown- 
ing became  her  best  friend.  The  friendship  grew  into 
love,  which  resulted  in  marriage ;  and  among  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  union  was  the  writer  of  these  words. 

That  is  the  story.  I  asked  my  mother,  when  she  was 
more  than  seventy  years  old,  if  it  was  a  true  story. 
She  did  not  deny  it,  but  put  me  off  with  a  playful 
answer  that  satisfied  me  of  its  substantial  correctness. 
It  is  in  harmony  with  the  nature  and  power  of  my 
father,  Nathaniel  Scudder  Prime,  w^io  was  a  hero  in 
action  under  every  condition  of  life,  and  possessed  of 
the  will  and  the  physique  that  fitted  him  to  be  the 
leader  of  every  party  to  which  he  belonged.  If  there 
was  a  fire  in  the  village,  the  whole  community  would 
look  to  him  to  take  the  command  as  naturally  as  they 
would  to  have  him  lead  their  devotions  in  the  church. 

Sag  Harbor  is  near  the  eastern  end  of  Long  Island. 
There  my  mother,  Julia  Ann  Jcrmain,  was  born,  and 
there  she  grew  to  womanhood,  the  daughter  of  a  well- 
known  merchant  of  that  great  whaling  seaport.  She 
was  just  the  loveliest  woman  of  her  day  and  generation, 
as  every  man's  mother  is ;  she  was  beautiful  as  the  dawn 
of  a  summer  morn,  gentle  but  firm,  calm  in  all  the  vicis- 


MY   PARENTS   AND   ANCESTORS.  5 

situdes  of  a  life  of  care  and  change  and  trial,  —  as  nearly 
a  "  perfect  woman  "  as  was  ever  called  "  mother." 

When  I  was  about  forty  years  old,  and  sitting  at  my 
work  in  the  office  in  New  York,  a  stranger  entered,  and, 
without  introduction  or  even  mentioning  his  name,  said 
to  me :  — 

"  I  have  come  in  to  see  you  whom  I  know  very  well, 
though  you  do  not  know  me.  About  forty  years  ago  I 
was  going  up  the  Hudson  River  on  a  sloop,  for  in  those 
days  there  were  no  steamboats  or  railroads.  When  we 
were  in  Tappan  Sea  we  were  overtaken  by  a  violent 
storm,  and  the  passengers,  of  whom  there  were  several 
on  board,  were  greatly  alarmed  lest  we  should  be  cap- 
sized. In  the  midst  of  the  excitement  a  young  and 
beautiful  woman  stood  in  the  midst  of  us  and  said :  '  In 
God's  hands  we  are  as  safe  on  the  water  as  on  the  land.' 
Those  words  calmed  the  excitement,  and  we  waited  in 
hope  till  the  storm  abated.  The  lovely  woman  who 
thus  proved  our  comforter  in  danger  afterward  became 
your  mother !  Her  words  have  been  my  motto  all  the 
years  since.  I  have  watched  your  life  and  marked  every 
step  you  have  taken,  always  keeping  in  mind  the  lesson 
I  learned  from  the  lips  that  taught  your  infant  lips  to 
pray." 

Having  said  these  pleasant  words,  the  stranger  left 
me,  and  I  have  never  to  my  knowledge  seen  him  or 
heard  from  him  since.  I  asked  my  mother  about  it,  and 
she  remembered  the  time,  the  voyage,  the  storm,  the 
excitement,  but  her  own  composure  was  so  habitual 
that  it  was  not  memorable.  In  the  month  of  Augfust, 
1 8 12,  that  journey  was  made,  and  I  was  born  on  the 
fourth  day  of  November,  in  the  same  year.  (See  Psalm 
139:  12-13.) 


6  SAMUKL   IREN/EUS    PRIME. 

These  incidents  in  the  H\-cs  of  my  parents  illustrate 
tlic  traits  of  character  that  distinguished  them,  each  and 
both.  My  father  was  a  man  of  strong  will,  immense 
energy,  dauntless  courage,  inflexible  in  the  right  and 
afraid  of  nothing  out  of  heaven  but  of  being  wrong. 
My  mother  was  sweet,  amiable,  tender,  loving,  never 
speaking  loud,  overflowing  with  sympathy,  delicate  in 
form,  frame,  and  appearance,  winning  all  hearts  to  her- 
self, full  of  playful  humor,  with  an  appreciation  of  pleas- 
antry and  wit  that  made  her  a  delightful  companion  and 
friend.  He  was  as  fond  of  the  sports  of  his  children  as 
they  were  of  playing  ball  with  him.  Abounding  in  an- 
ecdote, jovial  at  table,  with  a  voice  so  loud  as  to  be 
easily  heard  over  all  the  house,  he  was  the  best  com- 
pany boys  ever  had.  Huntington  is  near  the  middle  of 
Long  Island,  and  there  my  father  was  born.  His  father, 
Benjamin  Young  Prime,  was  a  good  physician,  a  great 
scholar,  who  wrote  verse  as  well  as  prose  in  many  lan- 
guages, —  French,  Spanish,  Italian,  Latin,  and  Greek. 
His  patriotic  songs  were  written  to  inspire  the  hearts  of 
the  "  Sons  of  Liberty  "  when  the  war  of  the  Revolution 
began.  Some  of  them  arc  preserved  in  the  "  Collections 
of  Early  American  Literature,"  edited  by  Griswold  and 
by  Duyckinck.  He  went  abroad  to  study  medicine,  and 
attended  lectures  in  London  and  Edinburgh,  and  after- 
wards went  to  the  Continent  and  took  his  medical 
degree  at  Leyden.  His  thesis  in  Latin  delivered  on 
that  occasion  was  printed,  and  a  gentleman  travelling 
in  Europe  a  few  years  ago  found  a  copy  of  it  handsomely 
bound  lying  on  a  street  book-stand,  and  bought  it  for 
me.  His  father,  my  great-grandfather,  was  the  Rev. 
Ebenezer  Prime,  minister  of  the  church  in  Huntington 
through  sixty  years.     He  came  from  Milford,  Conn.,  to 


MY   PARENTS   AND   ANCESTORS.  / 

that  charge  in  1719,  being  descended  from  one  of  the 
three  brothers  Prime  from  England,  who  settled  in 
Rowley,  Mass.,  about  1640. 

My  great-grandfather  died  during  the  Revolutionary 
War,  in  1779.  He  was  an  ardent  patriot.  And  as  the 
Church  of  Rome  persecuted  the  bones  of  Wyclifife, 
who  escaped  the  fires  of  martyrdom  in  the  flesh,  so  my 
ancestor  in  his  grave  suffered  the  penalty  of  his  patri- 
otism. My  father,  in  his  "  History  of  Long  Island," 
gives  this  account  of  the  treatment  to  which  his  grand- 
father's property  was  subjected  by  the  British  troops  in 
Huntington :  — 

"  When  the  troops  first  entered  the  town,  the  officers 
housed  their  horses  in  the  pastor's  stable,  and  littered 
them  with  sheaves  of  unthreshed  wheat,  while  they 
cursed  the  '  old  rebel,'  as  they  were  pleased  to  call  him. 
They  then  took  possession  of  his  house  for  their  quar- 
ters, breaking  the  furniture  which  they  did  not  need, 
tearing  leaves  out  of  his  most  valuable  books,  or  entirely 
destroying  one  volume  of  a  set,  as  if  to  render  them 
valueless  without  taking  the  trouble  to  destroy  the 
whole." 

And  again  he  writes  :  "  The  seats  in  the  house  of  God 
were  torn  up  and  the  building  converted  into  a  military 
depot.  And  to  wound  the  feelings  of  the  inhabitants 
most  deeply,  the  church  was  pulled  down,  and  barracks 
built  of  the  timbers  in  the  centre  of  the  burying-ground. 
The  graves  were  levelled  and  the  tombstones  used  for 
building  their  fireplaces  and  ovens.  I  have  often  heard 
old  men  testify  that  they  had  seen  the  loaves  of  bread 
drawn  out  of  these  ovens  with  the  reversed  inscriptions 
of  the  tombstones  of  their  friends  on  the  lower  crust." 

The  leader  of  the  troops  who  thus  inhabited  the  tombs 


8  SAMUEL  IREN^US   PRIME. 

in  Huntington  was  Colonel  Benjamin  Thompson.  He 
afterwards  became  the  famous  Count  Rumford,  of  Ley- 
dcn-Jar  memory.  He  had  his  own  tent  pitched  at  the 
head  of  my  great-grandfather's  grave,  that,  to  use  his 
own  words,  "  every  time  he  went  in  or  out  he  might 
tread  on  the  old  rebel." 


II. 

MY   FATHER'S   COLLEGE  LIFE. 

Nathaniel   Scudder.  —  Samuel    Stanhope  Smith.  —  Minis- 
ters' Families.  —  Judge  William  Strong. 

TN  the  year  1801  my  father  entered  Nassau  Hall, 
-*-  as  it  was  then  called,  at  Princeton,  N.  J.  Though 
but  sixteen  years  old,  he  became  a  member  of  the 
Sophomore  class,  and  took  high  rank  with  such  men 
as  Theodore  Frelinghuysen,  and  J.  R.  Ingersoll,  who 
entertained  me  in  London  in  1853,  when  he  was  United 
States  minister  to  England.  My  father's  given  name 
was  Nathaniel  Scudder,  which  he  received  from  Dr. 
Scudder,  of  New  Jersey,  who  was  a  very  dear  friend  in 
college  of  my  grandfather,  who  was  graduated  at  Prince- 
ton in  the  year  175 1.  In  the  graveyard  in  the  woods, 
near  the  old  Tennent  church,  in  Freehold,  N.  J.,  is  a 
tombstone  with  an  inscription,  in  memory  of  Dr. 
Nathaniel  Scudder,  who  was  killed  in  the  battle  of 
Monmouth.  That  was  the  man  whose  name  my  father 
bore.  But  as  he  was  never  pleased  with  the  name,  he 
would  not  impose  it  on  any  of  his  five  sons,  —  in  my 
case  preferring  to  go  into  the  Old  Testament,  among 
the  prophets,  for  one  name,  and  to  the  fathers  of  the 
early  Church  for  another. 

One  of  the  servants  waiting  upon  the  college  stu- 
dents, was  a  colored  boy  named  Peter  Scudder,  who 
had  been  a  slave  in  the  Scudder  family  of  Princeton, 


lO  SAMUEL   IREN/liUS    PRIME. 

Having  the  name  himself  that  my  father  had,  and  be- 
longing to  the  family  with  whom  my  father  was  thus 
connected,  the  boy  attracted  the  young  and  pious  stu- 
dent's attention.  My  father  had  been  "  born  again " 
the  year  before  he  went  to  college.  He  found  that 
Peter  could  not  read,  and  had  received  very  little 
religious  instruction.  Encouraging  him  to  come  to 
his  room  when  his  work  for  the  day  was  done,  ni)- 
father  gave  the  lad  daily  lessons,  till  he  became  able 
to  read  intelligently,  and  in  the  meantime  the  teach- 
ings of  his  young  tutor  were  made  effectual  in  his 
conversion.  I  have  often  heard  my  father  relate,  with 
tears,  the  remarkable  experience  of  this  colored  boy, 
the  clear  evidence  he  gave  of  genuine  conversion,  and 
of  his   romantic   devotion  to  his  young  friend. 

Thirty  years  after  this  event  I  entered  the  seminary 
at  Princeton  to  study  theology.  Long  before  this  had 
I  forgotten  all  about  Peter  Scuddcr,  and  I  had  no 
thought  of  his  being  still  among  the  living  at  Prince- 
ton. The  first  day  of  my  residence  in  the  seminary,  a 
colored  man  came  in  to  make  up  my  bed.  I  asked 
him  his  name,  and  he  said  "  PETER  SCUDDER." 

"  How  long  have  you  been  in  the  seminary?" 

"  A  great  many  years,  and  I  used  to  wait  on  the 
students  in  the  college  before  I  came  here  to  the 
seminary." 

"Do  you  remember  Nathaniel  Scudder  Prime?" 

"  Indeed  I  do !  he  taught  me  to  read ;  I  got  religion 
from  him;  he  told  me  how  to  come  to  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ;   I  shall  never  forget  Massa  Prime." 

"  I  am  his  son." 

He  was  awe-struck.  He  did  not  at  first  seem  to  get 
liold  of  it  rightly,  —  it  confused  him  ;   but  when  the  idea 


MY   FATHER  S   COLLEGE   LIFE.  I  I 

fairly  took  possession  of  his  mind  he  gave  way  to  ex- 
travagant demonstrations  of  joy,  gratitude,  and  wonder. 
He  wept,  and  he  laughed. 

"  And  he  is  yet  alive?  "  he  inquired  ;  and  he  loved  to 
hear  me  speak  of  all  his  young  friend's  hfe-work,  and 
his  remembrance  of  Peter  Scudder,  Peter  was  now 
the  father  of  a  family  in  the  village,  and  I  visited 
them  afterwards,  to  their  great  enjoyment.  Peter  was 
more  than  my  servant,  he  was  my  brother  in  the 
Lord. 

The  president  of  the  college  when  my  father  was 
a  student  was  Dr.  Samuel  Stanhope  Smith.  Many 
anecdotes  of  him  were  the  entertainment  of  my  boy- 
hood. One  is  worth  writing.  The  president  was 
greatly  annoyed  by  the  frequent  trespass  of  the  hog 
of  one  of  his  neighbors,  that  would  get  into  his  garden. 
The  animal  belonged  to  a  poor  widow,  who  tried  hard 
to  keep  him  at  home,  but  he  often  broke  out  of  hers 
into  the  grounds  of  the  president.  He  sent  her  fair 
warning  again  and  again  that  he  should  have  to  kill 
that  hog  if  he  was  found  in  his  garden  again.  But 
warnings  were  in  vain.  One  day,  and  sad  to  say,  it 
was  the  Lord's  day,  Sam,  the  doctor's  servant,  brought 
word  to  the  president,  that  "  dat  dare  hog  was  in  de 
garden."  The  better  the  day,  the  better  the  deed,  and 
the  Doctor  told  Sam  to  come  out  with  the  big  knife, 
and  they  would  make  an  end  of  the  business.  It  was 
in  the  heat  of  summer,  and  to  kill  a  hog  at  such  a  time 
was  to  waste  the  pork,  for  it  could  not  be  kept  long 
enough  to  be  honestly  consumed.  But  the  time  for 
reason  or  pity  was  past.  Sam  caught  the  pig,  which 
set  up  such  a  squealing  as  to  alarm  the  widow  in  her 
cottage.     She   flew  to   the   garden,   and    taking   in   the 


12  SAMUEL   IREN.EUS    rKIMF.. 

situation  at  a  glance,  implored  the  Doctor  to  spare  the 
victim  now  at  his  mercy. 

"In  with  the  knife,  Sam,"  cried  the  overheated  divine, 
and  the  fatal  lunge  was  made.  The  life-blood  fattened 
the  soil  of  the  garden. 

The  Doctor,  feeling  better  now  it  was  over,  began  to 
chide  the  widow,  and  at  the  same  time  to  console  her 
on  the  loss  of  her  hog. 

"  O,  la,  it  ain't  my  hog,  Doctor,  it's  yoiirn,"  and  sure 
enough,  in  their  haste  and  excitement,  neither  the  Doc- 
tor nor  Sam  had  noticed  that  they  were  killing  their 
own  pig  in  the  middle  of  summer. 

The  yellow  fever  was  raging  in  the  city  of  New  York 
in  the  year  1804,  the  year  of  my  father's  graduation. 
It  was  not  considered  safe  to  pass  through  the  city, 
and  he  sailed  from  Elizabeth  Port  to  Brooklyn,  on  his 
way  home  to  Huntington,  Long  Island.  All  his  college 
furniture,  bed,  books,  etc.,  were  boxed  to  be  sent  after 
him.  They  went  into  New  York,  and  lost  their  way, 
—  the  name  on  the  address  being  misunderstood,  —  into 
the  loft  of  the  banking-house  of  Nathaniel  Prime,  the 
founder  of  the  house  long  known  in  the  commercial 
world,  and  which  was  afterward  Prime,  Ward,  King,  & 
Co.  Although  the  banker  and  my  father  bore  the 
same  first  name,  they  were  not  related  except  as  they 
were  descended  from  the  father  of  the  three  brothers 
in  Rowley.  The  banker's  family  is  still  perpetuated  in 
New  York.  The  college  goods  were  never  recovered. 
When  search  was  made  for  them,  after  the  yellow  fever 
was  over,  it  was  found  that  they  had  gone  apart,  and 
my  father  always  mourned  the  loss  of  his  mother's 
Bible,  worth  to  him  more  than  all  the  rest. 

My  father  was  left  fatherless  when  only  six  years  old. 


MY  father's  college  life.  13 

The  care  of  him  devolved  on  his  mother,  who  Uved 
ninety  years  and  eight  months.  She  had  very  small 
means  and  a  large  family.  She  was  the  mother  of 
seven  children,  of  whom  my  father  was  the  youngest. 
Unaided,  she  gave  them  a  good  education,  and  my 
father  having  seen  what  one  brave  woman  could  do 
for  herself  and  children,  cherished  the  same  spirit  of 
self-reliance  under  the  help  of  God,  and  did  for  his 
children  what  was  done  for  him.  He  had  an  intense 
conviction  that  it  is  better  for  the  man,  and  better  for 
church,  and  the  world,  that  candidates  for  the  learned 
professions,  especially  for  the  ministry,  should  help 
themselves,  rather  than  be  supported  by  charity. 

A  few  years  ago  I  was  travelling  in  company  with 
the  Hon.  William  Strong,  who  has  recently  resigned 
his  seat  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States.  We  were  then  going  from  Brooklyn 
to  Philadelphia  on  a  mission  from  the  Presbyterian 
General  Assembly,  and  were  discussing  the  systems 
of  ministerial  education,  and  the  support  of  candidates. 
I  remarked :  — 

"  My  father  was  a  country  minister;  his  salary  never 
exceeded  six  hundred  dollars.  He  had  five  sons  and 
two  daughters ;  to  all  his  sons  he  gave  collegiate  and 
professional  education,  and  to  his  daughters  the  best  op- 
portunities. And  he  never  had  a  dollar  to  help  him, 
or  one  of  his  children,  that  he  did  not  earn." 

Judge  Strong  answered :  "  My  father  was  a  country 
minister,  and  the  only  difference  between  his  experi- 
ence and  your  father's  was,  that  he  had  ELEVEN  chil- 
dren, for  whom  he  did  the  same." 


III. 

MY    BIRTHPLACE. 

Ballston   Centre.  —  Rev.  Stephen   Porter.  —  Milton, 
Cambridge,  N.  Y. 

YOU  can  go  to  any  place  in  the  world  from  Long 
Island,  except  to  the  North  Pole.  Nobody  has 
ever  been  there  yet,  even  if  he  started  from  Long  Island. 
John  Ledyard,  the  "  Great  American  Traveller,"  as  he 
was  once  called,  who  went  to  Africa  and  everywhere, 
was  a  kinsman  of  mine  on  my  grandmother's  side  of  the 
house,  —  her  name  was  Wheelwright.  Ledyard  came 
to  Long  Island  to  see  my  grandmother  before  he  set 
out  on  those  remarkable  travels  ended  by  his  early 
death. 

In  the  summer  of  1812  my  father  left  Long  Island. 
The  Presbytery  had  earnestly  besought  him  to  stay  and 
wait,  as  he  often  afterwards  said,  "  for  dead  men's  shoes," 
—  that  is,  for  some  one  to  die  whose  place  he  might 
take.  But  he  was  too  enterprising  and  earnest  to  wait. 
The  Rev.  Stephen  Porter,  who  married  my  mother's 
sister,  had  been  settled  in  the  ministry  at  Ballston 
Centre,  Saratoga  County,  N.  Y.  He  wrote  that  a  small 
congregation  in  the  adjoining  town  of  Milton  was  with- 
out a  pastor,  and  on  receiving  an  invitation  from  the 
church  to  come  to  them,  my  father  and  mother,  with 
two  children,  set  off  from  the  Island  to  begin  the  world 
anew.     It  was  more  of  a  journey  then  than  it  is  now. 


MY   BIRTHPLACE.  I5 

Their  household  goods  were  not  many  or  great,  but  they 
must  all  go  with  them.  By  sloop  to  New  York,  and 
then  by  sloop  to  Albany,  that  was  the  rapid  transit  of 
those  pre-steamer  times.  It  was  on  this  voyage  up  the 
river  that  my  mother,  then  a  delicate,  lovely  young 
mother,  spoke  peace  to  the  troubled  hearts  of  the 
passengers  in  the  midst  of  the  storm. 

It  came  to  pass  in  those  days  that  Mr.  Porter,  the 
pastor  at  Ballston,  dwelt  in  a  large  house  across  the  way 
from  the  church  in  which  he  preached  the  word.  But 
in  all  the  parish  of  Milton  there  was  not  a  house  or  part 
of  a  house  to  be  had,  in  which  my  parents  and  their 
children  could  lay  their  heads.  And  there  were  very 
urgent  reasons  why  it  was  important  that  they  should  be 
comfortably  housed  before  the  cold  weather  set  in ;  and 
it  was  now  at  hand.  They  were  enjoying  the  hospitality 
of  Brother  Porter,  as  my  father  always  called  him,  for  so 
he  was  in  a  double  and  every  sense ;  and  when  all 
house-hunting  proved  in  vain,  the  conclusion  was  finally 
reached  that  for  the  present,  at  least,  they  must  stay 
where  they  were. 

Last  summer  (1880)  while  for  a  time  at  Saratoga 
Springs,  I  drove  down  to  Old  Ballston,  ten  miles  south 
of  Saratoga,  with  some  of  my  children  and  grandchildren. 
Coming  to  the  church  and  calling  their  attention  to  the 
mansion  in  front  of  it,  surrounded  with  venerable  trees, 
and  wearing  the  appearance  of  age  and  comfort,  I  said 
to  the  family,  "  You  see  the  house  in  which  I  was  born." 
It  is  hard  to  get  up  any  emotion,  not  to  say  interest,  in 
such  association,  when  everything  looks  as  it  did  look 
fifty,  sixty,  or  seventy  years  ago.  It  was  just  as  good  a 
place  as  any  other  to  be  born  in.  Then  we  drove  over 
to  Milton,  six  miles  on  our  way  back  to  Saratoga,  by 


l6  SAMUEL  IREN.i-US   I'RI.ME. 

another  road.  This  was  the  road  my  father  travelled 
back  and  forth,  in  wet  and  cold,  to  minister  to  a  little 
flock  in  what  was  scarcely  better  than  a  wilderness.  In 
less  than  two  months  after  I  was  born,  two  vacant  rooms 
were  found  in  Milton,  in  a  dilapidated,  but  inhabited 
house.  And  to  them  my  mother,  with  her  three  child- 
ren, was  moved  in  the  dead  of  winter.  The  two  rooms 
had  to  serve  for  parlor,  kitchen,  and  bedrooms  for  six. 
And  so  miserable  was  this  house  that  I  have  heard  my 
mother  say  she  could  see,  through  the  cracks,  the  horses 
and  sleighs  going  by,  as  I  was  lying  in  her  arms.  The 
snow  was  then  two  feet  deep  on  the  ground,  and  the 
thermometer  had  the  habit  of  going  to  twenty-five  and 
thirty  degrees  below  zero.  The  measles  and  spotted 
fever  prevailed  in  the  neighborhood,  but  did  not  invade 
that  divinely  protected  home.  As  my  mother  had  been 
brought  up  tenderly,  in  the  midst  of  abundance,  the 
winds  never  being  permitted  to  breathe  roughly  upon 
her,  it  is  a  wonder  of  mercy,  exceeding  any  of  the  mod- 
ern French  or  Irish  miracles,  that  she  did  not  succumb 
to  those  sufferings  which  attended  my  introduction  to 
this  "vale  of  tears."  In  the  spring  of  the  year  1813  my 
father  was  able  to  get  a  house  to  himself,  and  moved 
into  it.  But  the  people  lacked  the  ability  or  the  dispo- 
sition to  support  a  pastor.  They  promised,  but  did  not 
pay.  At  this  juncture,  when  the  question  came  up, 
"  What  shall  we  do  to  live?  "  he  was  invited  to  preach 
in  Cambridge,  Washington  County,  N.  Y.,and  very  soon 
he  received  a  call  to  come  over  into  that  region  and 
settle.  It  was  east  of  the  Hudson  River,  about  twenty- 
five  miles  from  Milton.  He  was  not  long  in  making  up 
his  mind  as  to  his  line  of  duty.  He  accepted  the  call 
to  Cambridge.     The   people  over  there  determined  to 


MY   BIRTHPLACE.  1/ 

make  a  sure  thing  of  it,  and  came  with  teams  to  trans- 
port their  new  minister,  bag  and  baggage,  across  the 
country.  There  was  no  very  great  amount  of  goods  to 
be  carried,  but  it  was  a  long  day's  drive  through  very 
sandy  roads  and  a  wild  country.  The  people  made  a 
"  bee  "  of  it,  and  coming  one  day  in  time  to  load  up 
over  night  as  far  as  possible,  they  set  off  early  the  next 
day,  and  landed  all  safe  and  sound  before  dark  in  the 
parish  since  known  as  that  of  the  "  Old  White  Meeting 
House." 

My  father  had  kept  a  horse  and  gig  to  pursue  his 
pastoral  work  in  Milton,  and  the  two  other  children  with 
the  nurse  being  stowed  away  with  the  furniture  in  the 
wagons,  and  doubtless  being  cautioned  as  the  sons  of 
Jacob  were  by  their  father,  "  not  to  fall  out  by  the  way," 
my  father  and  mother,  with  the  infant  in  her  arms,  rode 
in  the  gig.  This  would  not  be  worth  such  particular 
record  but  for  the  circumstance  that  attended  it  with 
danger  to  my  life.  In  the  midst  of  that  day's  journey, 
a  hot  day  in  midsummer,  I  was  found  to  be  overheated, 
and  when  they  rested  under  the  shade  of  a  friendly  tree, 
a  rash  came  out  all  over  me,  attended  with  great  irrita- 
tion and  suffering.  It  became  a  chronic  ailment.  The 
blood  seemed  to  be  permanently  and  injuriously  affected 
by  that  day's  exposure.  Several  fits  of  dangerous  illness 
in  after  life  were  the  immediate  result  of  the  sudden 
striking  in  of  this  eruption.  And  the  amount  of  pain 
that  I  have  endured  no  one  now  living,  and  no  one  but 
my  mother,  ever  did  know.  Even  unto  manhood  and 
down  to  gray  hairs  the  ill  effect  of  that  day's  ride  con- 
tinued. It  may  be  that  if  I  put  the  fact  on  this  paper 
it  will  save  some  poor  minister's  boy  from  such  an 
exposure. 

2 


1 8  SAMUEL   IRENTEUS    PRIME. 

It  is  not  to  be  expected  that  I  should  have  any  very 
distinct  recollections  of  that  period  of  life  which  I  passed 
in  Ballston,  which  must  be  set  down  as  my  birthplace 
though  I  lived  there  less  than  two  months.  Nor  do  I 
remember  more  of  Milton,  where  I  resided  precisely  six 
months.  But  when  the  mature  age  of  eight  months  had 
been  attained  I  performed  my  second  journey  and  be- 
came a  resident  of  another  town  and  county.  So  Cam- 
bridge has  ever  been  to  me  as  my  native  place,  for  here 
my  childhood  and  youth  were  spent;  here  I  began  to 
go  to  school;  here  are  all  the  ties  that  bind  a  boy  to 
hills  and  brooks  and  groves ;  here  were  the  early  play- 
mates, early  loves,  home  and  friends ;  and  I  know  no 
other  native  land  than  old  Cambridge.  There  life  with 
me  had  its  beginning,  so  far  as  memory  goes;  and  I  am 
quite  sure  that  my  last  thoughts  on  earth,  if  they  are 
turned  backward  on  time,  will  rest  there. 


IV. 

BEGINNING  TO   LEARN. 

My  Father's  Study.  —  ToBiw:co-SMOKE.  —  The   Schoolmas- 
ter. —  Scripture  Readings. 

"TV /TY  father  had  pecuHar  views  in  regard  to  the  time 
-^'-'-  when  children  should  begin  to  learn  to  read. 
His  first-born  was  a  daughter,  who  was  taught  her 
letters  as  soon  as  she  could  speak.  She  was  a  good 
reader  at  three.  On  the  day  she  was  five  years  old  she 
repeated  all  the  answers  to  the  one  hundred  and  eight 
questions  in  the  Shorter  Catechism,  correctly.  All  the 
children  learned  that  Catechism,  and  repeated  portions 
of  it  every  Sabbath  evening,  but  no  one  of  them  learned 
it  so  soon  in  life  as  the  eldest  daughter  did.  But  my 
father,  who  was  a  great  teacher,  and  disposed  to  make 
experiments  for  the  purpose  of  learning,  did  not  find 
reason  to  believe  it  good  to  begin  with  children  so 
soon  as  he  began  with  the  first  or  second  child. 

I  was  the  third,  and  was  not  permitted  to  have  a 
book  in  my  hand  until  I  was  five  years  old.  His 
theory  was  that  the  child  would  by  that  time  have  a 
real  desire  to  learn,  and  would  also  have  a  measure 
of  mental  power  to  go  onward  with  learning,  steadily, 
from  book  to  book,  and  year  by  year.  What  were  my 
thoughts  on  the  subject  during  these  preliminary  years 
of  forced  ignorance,  I  do  not  remember.     Perhaps  no 


20  SAMUEL   IREN.IiUS    TRIME. 

one  goes  farther  back  than  his  fifth  year.  But  I  do 
remember  with  the  vividness  of  events  of  yesterday, 
the  morning  of  the  eventful  day  when  I  was  five  years 
old.  My  father's  study  was  a  wing  of  the  house,  —  one 
room  built  on  the  end  of  the  house,  with  no  door  but 
the  outside  one,  from  and  to  which  we  went  by  the  way 
of  the  front  piazza.  This  was  a  memorable  piazza,  too. 
A  trap-door  in  the  middle  of  it  opened  to  the  cellar, 
and  one  evening  it  was  left  open.  I  came  in  from  the 
study,  it  was  dark,  and  tripping  along  swiftly,  plunged 
headlong  into  the  cellar,  cutting  my  head  on  the  stone 
wall  as  I  went  down,  and  dividing  the  whole  cheek  on 
the  edge  of  the  lowest  step.  I  was  taken  up  for  killed ; 
but  being  kept  awake  all  night  lest  if  I  went  to  sleep 
I  should  never  wake,  and  being  carefully  nursed,  I 
escaped  permanent  injury. 

To  this  study  we  often  resorted  for  instruction  and 
reproof.  The  anxious  father  invited  us  there  when  he 
would  see  us  alone;  for  it  was  a  good  idea  of  his  that 
it  is  often  better  to  reprove  children  privately  than  in 
the  presence  of  their  companions.  Once  he  made  a 
mistake  with  me.  He  thought  I  had  told  a  lie.  He 
was  very  much  grieved,  and  labored  to  get  from  me  a 
confession.  He  did  not  pwiisli  me,  for  I  think  he  had 
an  inner  conviction,  or  perhaps  it  was  only  a  hope,  that 
I  might  not  have  been  guilty.  But  he  took  me  into  the 
study,  talked  with  me  very  seriously;  and  then  kneel- 
ing with  me,  prayed  very  earnestly  that  God  would 
forgive  me.  But  as  I  knezv  that  I  had  not  been  wicked 
in  this  matter,  however  bad  a  boy  I  might  have  been 
in  other  things,  it  seemed  to  me  that  as  God  knew 
I  was  innocent,  this  pra)-ing  was  quite  out  of  place. 
There  was  to  me,  a  very  little  child,  something  of  the 


BEGINNING  TO    LEARN.  21 

ludicrous    in   praying  for  what  could  not  possibly  be 
granted,  —  the  forgiveness  of  an  innocent  one. 

But  this  study  was  strongly  impressed  on  my  senses 
by  the  odor  of  tobacco.     My  father  was  a  great  student 
and  a  great  smoker.     He  smoked  morning,  noon  and 
night, —  all  day,  not  all  night,  but  far  into  the  night. 
Having  a  long  pipe,  and  being  fond  of  reading  in  bed, 
he  had  his  candle  on  a  stand,  and  on  the  stand  rested 
the  bowl  of  his  pipe,  which  he  smoked,  and  filled,  and 
smoked  again.     While  writing  sermons  he  was  always 
smoking.     His  books  and  manuscripts  were  so  impreg- 
nated with    it,   that   they  retained    the  unsavory  odor 
years   and   years    after  they  left   this    den.     The  only 
good    that   ever   came   of  this    smoking  came   to    me. 
As  to  him,  it  well-nigh  killed  him  in  middle  life.     His 
head  was  affected.     Vertigo  seized  him  in  the  pulpit; 
he  would  forget  what  he  had  said.     He  gave  up   his 
pipe,  and  the  vertigo  did  not  return.     But  it  is  quite 
likely  that  in  my  childhood   the  smell   of  tobacco   in 
such  quantities  made  me  sick;    and  to  this  I  attribute 
the  fact  that  I  never  tasted  the  weed  in  any  shape  or 
form.     As  most  of  my  friends  in  social  life  are  in  the 
habit  of  smoking,  and  my  tastes  have  made  me  a  fre- 
quent guest  with  those  who  are  fond  of  cigars,  it  would 
not  have  been  strange  had  I  fallen  into  the  habit. 

Into  this  smoke-stained  study,  on  the  morning  of 
Nov.  4,  1 817,  I  was  called  by  my  father.  He  put  into 
my  hands  Marshall's  Spelling  Book,  with  my  name 
written  on  the  cover,  — the  three  names  in  full.  My 
first  name  was  from  the  prophet  Samuel,  of  Old  Tes- 
tament story;  my  second,  the  middle  name,  which  I 
have  chiefly  used  in  later  life,  he  gave  me  because  he 
was  fond  of  reading,  in  the  old  folio  volume  which  he 


22  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS   I'RIME. 

inherited  from  his  grandfather,  the  works  of  Ircnaeus, 
one  of  the  early  fathers  of  the  church,  a  disciple  of 
Polycarp,  who  was  the  disciple  of  John  the  Evangelist. 
That  Irenajus  became  a  Bishop  of  Lyons,  in  France, 
suffered  martyrdom  there,  and  a  church  built  on  the 
spot  bears  his  name  to  this  day. 

My  full  name,  with  the  date,  being  written  in  the 
book,  which  was  the  first  one  I  had  ever  been  per- 
mitted to  take,  I  marched  off  to  school  with  the  other 
children,  as  proud  as  a  peacock,  I  can  remember  dis- 
tinctly when  I  first  stood  in  front  of  John  Alden,  the 
schoohnasUr.  That  is  the  right  word  for  him,  he  was 
master  as  well  as  teacher,  and  a  tyrant,  too ;  and  he 
pointed  to  the  letter  at  the  head  of  the  alphabet,  and 
said,  "That's  A."  I  said,  "A,"  —  and  so  on  till  the 
alphabet  was  "  mastered  "  and  learned. 

And  this  reminds  me :  Fifty  years  after  this  day,  I 
went  into  the  office  of  a  notary  in  New  York  to  make 
affidavit  to  a  document.  Having  signed  my  name, 
which  by  this  time  was  somewhat  known  in  the  city, 
the  notary,  a  stranger  to  me,  said :  — 

"No,  that's  not j'o//r  name,  is  it?" 

"  Certainly  it  is,  and  pray,  why  not?" 

"  Well,  now,"  said  he,  "  that  reminds  me  of  the  man 
who  did  not  learn  his  letters  when  a  child,  and  begin- 
ning to  learn  when  grown  up,  refused  to  believe  it  was  , 
'  A '  when  his  teacher  told  him  its  name.     '  Well,'  he  ' 
replied,  '  I  've  /icern  tell  of  "  A  "  all  my  life,  but  I  never 
seed  it  afore.' " 

I  finally  convinced  the  notary  that  I  was  the  man, 
at  least  so  much  that  he  took  his  fee. 

The  rule  in  our  family  was  that  each  child  should 
learn  to  read  in  three  months,  so  as  to  be  able  to  take 


BEGINNING  TO   LEARN.  23 

his  turn  in  reading  the  Bible  at  morning  family  prayers. 
The  parents  each  read  a  verse,  and  the  children  in 
order,  every  one  bringing  his  Bible.  The  little  ones, 
like  young  birds  trying  their  wings,  made  poor  work 
of  it  at  first,  but  their  ambition  was  roused  to  take 
their  turn,  and  no  one  ever  failed  to  come  to  time. 
One  of  my  brothers  made  a  funny  mistake,  by  being 
in  too  great  haste  to  show  his  skill.  He  had  but  re- 
cently taken  his  place  among  the  readers ;  the  portion 
of  Scripture  was  the  story  of  the  Marriage  in  Cana  of 
Galilee,  and  the  miracle  of  changing  the  water  into 
wine.  The  verse  that  came  to  the  boy  was  the  one 
in  which  Jesus  saith  unto  them,  "  Draw  out  now  and 
bear,"  etc.  Having  some  idea  of  the  run  of  the  story, 
he  read  with  a  loud,  shrill  voice,  "Draw  out  new  BEER." 
He  did  not  hear  the  last  of  it  for  many  a  year. 

We  had>  a  lad  staying  with  us  for  a  time,  who  took 
his  seat  to  read  in  his  turn,  and  we  were  reading  in  the 
Book  of  Proverbs.  He  called  a  "  stalled  ox"  a  "  salted 
ox,"  and  never  was  allowed  to  forget  the  blunder. 

The  various  experiments  made  with  his  own,  and  the 
children  of  others,  led  my  father  to  think  it  best  for 
children  not  to  be  sent  to  school,  or  to  be  taught  to 
read  at  home,  until  they  were  at  least  five  years  old. 
He  would  have  preferred  a  later,  rather  than  an  earlier 
period,  for  the  commencement  of  literary  pursuits.  And 
having  tried  the  earlier  on  the  first  two,  he  adhered  to 
the  fifth  year  for  beginning,  in  the  case  of  the  other 
five  children.  In  this  conclusion  he  was  right  and  wise. 
Doubtless  thousands  of  parents  send  their  children  to 
public  schools  at  a  very  early  age  simply  to  get  them 
out  of  the  way  for  a  few  hours.  The  children  have 
nothing  to  do  but  to  sit  on  the  benches,  yawn  in  the 


24  SAMUEL  IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

bad  atmosphere,  and  contract  a  liabit  of  idleness.     It 
were  better  for  them  to  be  out  of  doors. 

In  three  months  from  the  time  of  my  learning  the 
letter  A  I  was  a  very  fair  reader,  and  have  been  steadily 
at  books  ever  since. 


I 


V. 

MY  SCHOOL-DAYS. 

Latin,     Greek,    and     Hebrew.  —  School    Examination. — 
Preparing  for  College.  —  Levi  Parsons. 

T  BEGAN  to  learn  the  Latin  Grammar  when  I  was 
-*-  eight  years  old.  But  I  did  not  leave  the  district 
school.  There  was  no  Latin  to  be  learned  there,  but 
my  father  set  my  older  brother  and  myself  at  it  out 
of  school  hours,  and  we  recited  to  him  in  the  early 
morning,  or  evening,  as  was  most  convenient.  This 
was  working  double  tides,  and  most  boys  would  have 
complained ;  but  we  made  light  of  it.  At  the  age  of 
ten  I  began  the  study  of  Greek,  and  in  the  same  year 
learned  the  Hebrew  letters,  and  made  a  little  progress 
in  the  first  chapter  of  Genesis. 

In  the  very  early  spring  of  this  my  tenth  year,  I  had 
a  fit  of  sickness,  with  acute  inflammation,  which  lasted 
several  weeks ;  my  life  was  despaired  of.  I  remember 
the  words  and  the  looks  of  friends,  as  they  came  softly 
to  the  bed  to  look  at  me,  supposing  that  I  was  very 
near  dying.  I  recovered,  but  did  not  now  know  a 
Hebrew  letter.  I  learned  the  language  again  when 
nineteen  years  old,  had  a  fit  of  sickness,  and  on  getting 
well  had  forgotten  the  letters. 

At  the  age  of  ten  years  I  was  invited  to  visit  a 
"  madam's  school "  for  very  little  boys  and  girls,  twenty 
or  thirty   scholars.      The   lady   teacher,    Mrs.    Waters, 


26  SAMUEL  IREN^US   PKIMK. 

asked  nic  to  come  and  examine  her  pupils,  and  see 
if  they  were  doing  well.  I  did  not  for  a  moment  think 
of  its  being  strange  that  a  boy  of  my  age  should  be 
called  to  such  a  service,  and  I  went  without  hesitation. 
I  spent  two  or  three  hours  sitting  on  a  platform,  while 
the  successive  classes  stood  before  me,  went  through 
their  recitations,  and  answered  the  questions  I  pro- 
pounded, if  they  could.  Then  the  little  girls  brought 
their  samplers  —  cloth  on  which  they  had  worked  letters 
or  pictures  —  and  laid  them  on  my  knees  while  I  ex- 
amined and  criticised  their  work.  The  boys  "  spoke 
pieces."  I  made  encouraging  remarks,  expressed  my- 
self as  greatly  pleased  with  w^hat  I  had  seen  and  heard, 
and  praised  the  lady  teacher  for  her  great  skill  in  teach- 
ing the  "young  idea  how  to  shoot."  When  the  time 
for  closing  the  school  had  arrived,  each  girl  came  in 
front  of  me  and  made  a  courtesy,  each  boy  stepped 
forth  and  made  his  bow,  and  retired. 

All  this  sounds  as  if  I  must  have  been  a  little  prig, 
and  quite  insufferable  for  airs;  but  it  seemed  at  the 
time  to  be  the  most  natural  thing  in  the  world,  and  I 
supposed  that  other  children  were  in  the  habit  of  do- 
ing the  same  thing.  If  they  were,  I  did  not  hear  of 
them  then,  and  have  not  since. 

Two  cousins  from  Albany,  the  motherless  children 
of  my  mother's  brother,  came  to  live  with  us,  to  be 
educated  and  trained  as  members  of  our  family.  They 
were  James  B.  and  John  P.  Jcrmain.  James  joined  the 
same  class  with  my  brother  and  me,  and  we  studied 
Latin  and  Greek  together.  We  read  Caesar's  Commen- 
taries, the  first  six  books  of  Virgil's  .^neid,  Cicero  De 
Sencctute  (of  which  I  wrote  a  translation  into  English, 
before  I  went  to  college,  and  have  the  original   manu- 


MY   SCHOOL-DAYS.  2/ 

script  to  this  day),  De  Amicitia,  and  the  Orations; 
and  in  Greek  we  studied  Graeca  Minora,  and  the  New 
Testament. 

My  father  had  for  some  time  been  one  of  the  trustees 
of  Middlebury  College  in  Vermont,  and  when  my  cousin 
was  to  go  to  college  my  father  went  with  him  to  Com- 
mencement, taking  my  brother  and  me  along.  We 
three  had  read  the  same  amount  of  Latin  and  Greek, 
and  were  equally  well  prepared  to  enter.  But  my 
youth  was  regarded  as  an  insuperable  objection  to  my 
then  going  to  college.  My  cousin  was  examined,  and 
admitted  without  hesitation,  and  I  could  have  passed 
then  as  well  as  he  did.  But  I  was  not  yet  twelve 
years  old,  and  returning  home  I  pursued  the  studies 
of  the  Freshman  class  of  college  with  my  father,  who 
took  the  charge  of  the  academy  in  Cambridge. 

In  the  >year  i8r8,  when  I  was  six  years  old,  we  had 
a  visitor  at  our  house  who  made  an  indelible  impres- 
sion on  parents  and  children.  This  was  Levi  Parsons, 
the  first  missionary  with  Pliny  Fisk  to  go  to  Jerusalem. 
Mr.  Parsons,  a  young  preacher,  was  directed  by  the 
American  Board  of  Foreign  Missions  to  visit  some  of 
the  churches  before  he  sailed  for  his  field  in  the  East. 
I  know  not  what  impulse  or  invitation  led  to  his  jour- 
ney into  the  remote  and  comparatively  secluded  region 
of  country  in  which  we  dwelt.  But  he  came,  and  was 
received  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  There  was  a  special 
tenderness  of  interest  in  his  reception  and  his  visit, 
because  he  was  already  commissioned  to  the  Holy 
Land.  No  mission  from  America  had  ever  been  sent 
to  that  country.  We  looked  on  this  young  man  almost 
like  one  who  was  going  to  be  one  of  the  personal  fol- 
lowers of  Christ,  and  perhaps  to  be  crucified  with  him, 


28  SAMUEL   IRENiEUS    PRIME. 

or  for  him.  Mr.  Parsons  spent  a  week  at  our  house, 
and,  with  my  father,  called  at  the  door  of  every  family 
bclonf^ing  to  the  congregation,  and  received  whatever 
contribution  they  were  disposed  to  give  after  having 
heard  the  subject  fully  presented  by  Mr.  Parsons  on 
the  previous  Sabbath.  Our  congregation  raised  three 
hundred  dollars,  and  the  church  of  which  Dr.  Alexander 
Bullions  was  pastor,  in  the  same  town,  gave  two  hun- 
dred dollars.  This  gift  of  five  hundred  dollars,  in  a 
secluded,  rural  town,  to  the  cause  of  foreign  Missions 
in  the  year  1818,  was  far  more  wonderful  than  the  do- 
nation of  five  thousand  dollars  in  that  place  would  be 
now. 

But  the  result  of  that  visit  was  permanently  felt  by 
all  of  the  children  who  were  then  old  enough  to  appre- 
ciate the  subject.  He  seemed  to  be  specially  inter- 
ested in  us,  and  proposed  to  read  the  Bible  with  us 
in  course,  the  same  chapter  to  be  read  by  him  and 
us  every  day,  and  he  w^ould  write  to  us  from  time  to 
time,  and  we  to  him,  mentioning  what  chapter  we  were 
reading  on  the  day  of  writing,  and  in  this  way  we  would 
be  sure  and  keep  together.  He  went  to  his  distant 
field.  Our  first  letter  from  him  was  dated  at  Malta; 
there  were  no  steamers  then,  and  he  went  in  a  sailing- 
vessel,  which  probably  made  no  landing  till  it  reached 
that  island.  Then  we  had  a  letter  from  him  in  Jeru- 
salem. Then  there  was  a  long  silence,  and  at  last 
we  heard  that  he  was  dead.  It  was  a  sad  event,  as  if 
we  had  lost  a  near  and  dear  friend.  Finally  a  letter 
reached  us  that  had  been  long  delayed  on  its  journey, 
and  did  not  arrive  until  one  year  after  he  died. 

He  went  from  Jerusalem  to  Egypt  in  hope  of  being 
benefited  in  health  by  a  change  of  climate.     At  Alex- 


MY   SCHOOL-DAYS.  29 

andria  he  died,  and  was  buried  in  the  Httle  graveyard  of 
the  Coptic  Convent.  Many  years  afterwards,  in  1854, 
^yhen  I  was  travelHng  there,  I  sought  the  grave  of 
Parsons,  at  the  special  desire  of  my  father.  But  it 
was  undistinguished  by  any  stone,  and  there  was  no 
one  who  could  point  to  the  spot  where  was  the  dust  of 
my  friend  who  was  buried  there  thirty-five  years  before. 


VI. 

LIFE   IN   THE   HOME. 

Ministers  and  Missionaries.  —  Emotion  and  \'^irgil.  —  My 
Mother's  Temperament.  —  Disobedience  and  Detection. 

IT  was  not  long  after  this  visit  of  Mr.  Parsons,  which 
left  us  all  deeply  interested  in  missions,  that  a  young 
minister  by  the  name  of  Fayette  Shepherd  came  to  our 
house,  and  talked  with  us  very  seriously  on  the  subject 
of  religion.  Indeed,  his  first  question  to  me  made  it 
very  natural  for  him  to  do  so.  He  said :  "  What  are 
you  going  to  be  when  you  are  grown  up  to  be  a  man?  " 

I  answered  without  a  moment's  hesitation:  "I  mean 
to  be  a  minister." 

I  have  no  recollection  of  the  time  when  I  did  not  have 
this  distinct  purpose,  which  was  natural  for  a  boy  who 
saw  his  father  in  the  pulpit  every  Sunday,  and  never 
doubted  that  his  father  was  the  greatest  man  in  the 
world. 

Mr.  Shepherd  set  us  all  to  learning  the  Psalm  begin- 
ning, "  Behold  how  good  and  how  pleasant  it  is  for 
brethren  to  dwell  together  in  unity,"  and  the  lessons  he 
left  on  our  minds,  at  least  on  mine,  were  decidedly  use- 
ful; but  I  confess  I  did  not  distinctl}'  understand  what 
was  the  meaning  of  the  ointment  running  down  upon 
Aaron's  beard. 

Our  house  became  a  resort  for  foreign  missionaries, 
who  now  and  then  returned  from  their  fields  on  account 


LIFE   IN   THE   HOME.  3 1 

of  health.  Cambridge  was  on  the  great  road  from  New 
England  to  Saratoga  Springs,  and  ministers  made  the 
minister's  house  their  hotel  without  the  slightest  ac- 
quaintance beforehand. 

I  have  frequently  known  a  minister,  a  total  stranger, 
to  come  to  the  door  with  horse  and  gig,  and  asking  if  the 
minister  lived  there,  he  would  tell  us,  the  boys,  to  take 
his  horse,  put  him  up,  give  him  four  quarts  of  oats  at 
night  and  as  many  in  the  morning,  and  then  march  into 
the  house  to  spend  the  night.  With  our  present  ideas 
of  propriety,  such  manners  seem  impossible,  but  they 
were  common  in  my  young  days. 

Among  the  missionaries  who  are  particularly  memo- 
rable were  Mrs.  Graves  and  Mr.  Bardwell,  both  of  India; 
and  the  savor  of  their  lovely  piety  is  a  precious  memory. 

Two  children  were  named  at  the  Seminary  in  India  or 
Ceylon  after  my  parents.  We  used  to  read  the  "  Mis- 
sionary Herald  "  to  find  their  names.  I  think  the  boy 
did  not  turn  out  well,  and  was  dropped.  But  we  heard 
of  the  conversion  of  the  girl,  who  bore  my  mother's  full 
name.  And  on  the  Sabbath  night  after  the  news  came 
of  the  hopeful  piety  of  this  girl,  we  were  deeply  moved 
by  my  father  saying  that  heathen  children  might  rise  in 
judgment  to  condemn  us,  if  they  repented  with  the  small 
advantages  they  enjoyed,  while  we  continued  in  sin  with 
the  full  light  of  the  gospel. 

Many  schoolboys  cry  over  their  lessons  because  they 
are  too  hard,  or  because  they  are  punished  for  not  learn- 
ing. But  I  was  the  only  boy  in  the  school  of  whom  it 
could  be  said  that  the  pathos  of  a  Latin  poet  moved  him 
to  tears.  When  I  was  studying  the  "  ^Eneid  "  of  Virgil 
I  was  in  the  condition  of  his  hero  when  he  asked,  "  Quis 
talia  fando  temperet  a  lachrymis?  "    ("  Who  can  refrain 


32  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

from  weeping  when  telling  the  tale  of  such  woe?")  And 
when  I  came  to  recite  in  the  class,  the  tenderness 
of  the  passages  that  fell  to  me  to  translate  and  read  was 
such  as  to  render  it  impossible  for  me  to  go  on.  I  doubt 
if  any  one  except  my  father  had  any  thought  of  what 
was  the  matter.  But  he  had.  He  saw  the  same  weak- 
ness in  other  relations,  and  has  told  me  since  that  when 
I  was  a  boy  he  did  not  believe  I  would  ever  be  fit  to  do 
anything  in  the  world;  that  a  nature  so  sensitive  would 
not  endure  the  rough  and  tumble  of  cvcry-day  life. 

My  earliest  recollections  of  my  mother  are  of  being 
called  in  from  play  ou>t  of  doors  to  see  her  when  she 
was  thought  to  be  dying.  She  was  an  invalid,  and  was 
supposed  to  have  consumption.  Her  instructions  which 
made  the  most  lasting  impressions  on  me  were  given  in 
her  bed  when  she  was  sick.  She  encouraged  me  to 
commit  hymns  to  memory,  and  to  repeat  them  to  her  as 
she  was  lying  in  bed. 

With  this  exceeding  delicacy  of  constitution,  she  was 
indefatigable  in  domestic  and  social  duty,  looking  well 
to  the  household  with  a  \'igilance  and  fidelity  not  ex- 
celled by  the  good  wife  in  the  Book  of  Proverbs.  She 
never  spoke  a  cross  or  impatient  word  to  one  of  her 
children,  but  she  ruled  with  a  loving  power  that  no 
spirit  could  resist.  To  offend  her  was  an  ofifence  never 
imagined  in  that  home. 

One  Sunday  morning  she  passed  through  the  bed- 
room where  I  was  sitting  up  in  bed,  just  ready  to  rise 
for  the  day.  She  looked  at  me  with  a  sad  look  of  re- 
proof, and  said :  — 

"  My  son,  you  went  into  the  water  yesterday." 

"  Yes,  I  did.  Ma;  and  I  am  glad  you  have  found  it  out, 
for  I  have  felt  very  bad  about  it." 


LIFE   IN   THE   HOME.  33 

We  were  forbidden  to  go  in  swimming  without  per- 
mission, and  on  the  Saturday  afternoon,  which  was  a 
hohday,  I  had  been  off  with  several  schoolboys  who 
were  going  into  the  water  for  a  swim,  and  they  urged 
me  to  go  in  with  them.  This  I  refused  to  do,  and  gave 
as  a  reason  that  I  was  forbidden  by  my  parents  to  go  in 
without  their  consent. 

To  their  assurance  that  it  would  never  be  found  out 
I  was  quite  indifferent,  as  it  was  not  fear  of  my  parents 
so  much  as  the  fear  of  God  that  restrained  me.  But 
persuasion  finally  overcame  me  when  one  of  the  boys 
said  he  knew  a  way  to  make  us  all  keep  the  secret  so 
that  it  would  never  be  known,  —  we  were  all  to  form  a 
ring,  and  lock  our  little  fingers  together,  and  then  to 
promise  never  to  tell ;  if  any  one  did  tell  his  little  finger 
would  rot  off!  We  went  through  this  form,  and  the 
promise  being  made,  we  stripped,  and  went  into  the 
water.  I  had  no  pleasure,  —  for  I  was  very  much  afraid  I 
should  be  drowned,  —  and  was  glad  to  be  on  dry  land 
again.  My  little  shirt  being  cut  lower  in  front  than  be- 
hind, —  a  fact  that  I  did  not  know  at  the  time,  —  I  put 
it  on  wrong  side  before,  and  the  quick  eye  of  a  mother 
as  she  saw  me  in  the  morning  detected  the  change  that 
had  been  made  in  the  course  of  the  previous  day. 

I  freely  confessed  the  sin,  and  said  my  little  finger 
might  rot  off,  but  I  would  tell  what  I  had  done,  and  the 
others  could  do  as  they  pleased.  That  was  sixty  years 
ago,  and  both  my  little  fingers  are  sound  at  the  present 
time,  so  that  I  have  no  apprehensions  of  losing  either  of 
them. 


VTI. 

EARLY   RECOLLECTIONS. 

The    Sleigh    Ride.  —  Diversities    of    Character.  —  Sensi- 
tiveness. —  Frightening  Children. 

MY  last  letter  recorded  the  only  instance  of  wilful 
disobedience  of  which  I  have  any  recollections. 
Of  this  I  did  sincerely  repent ;  and  as  my  parents  for- 
gave me,  I  had  reason  to  believe  God  did,  but  I  ne\'cr 
forgave  myself.  To  do  what  my  parents  had  expressly 
forbidden  me  to  do  was  in  my  own  eyes  a  great  wrong ; 
and  I  determined  never  to  do  so  again.  The  nearest 
that  I  ever  came  to  it  was  when  I  was  grown  nearly  to 
manhood,  and  I  mention  it  here  to  show  the  wisdom 
of  that  parental  system  of  government  that  prevailed 
in  our  home. 

We  were  residing  in  Sing  Sing,  N.  Y.,  in  1830-31. 
In  the  winter  the  sleighing  was  fine,  and  the  young 
people  had  made  up  a  party  for  a  sleigh  ride  in  the 
evening.  Having  met  with  an  accident  that  partially 
disabled  me  for  a  few  days,  I  was  afraid  if  it  were 
known  that  I  was  going  off  on  this  excursion,  my  father 
would  prefer  to  have  me  avoid  the  exposure.  I  said 
nothing  about  it,  and  after  tea  slipped  out  unobserved 
(as  I  thought),  and  was  off  to  the  rendezvous.  But  a 
voice  that  I  could  never  mistake  called  me  back.  I 
returned,  and  going  into  the  library  where  my  father 
was  sitting,  I  said :  — 


EARLY    RECOLLECTIONS.  35 

"  Did  you  call  me,  sir?  " 

"  Yes,"  he  answered  ;    "  where  were  you  going?  " 

I  said :  "  A  party  of  us  young  folks  are  going  off 
for  a  sleigh  ride  this  evening,  and  I  was  making  haste 
to  the  place  where  we  are  to  meet." 

"  Have  you  money  enough  with  you,"  he  asked,  "  to 
pay  your  share  of  the  expense?  " 

"  I  have  some,"  said  I ;  "  but  perhaps  it  would  be 
safer  to  take  more." 

He  gave  me  a  few  dollars,  with  a  caution  not  to  go 
into  company  with  young  people  without  having  money 
enough  to  do  what  was  proper  in  paying  expenses ! 

Would  I  ever  think  of  deceiving  such  a  man  as  that? 
He  had  perfect  confidence  in  his  children  that  they 
would  do  nothing  wrong  with  money,  and  he  wished 
them  to  enjoy  whatever  recreations  were  innocent  and 
reasonable.  My  fear  had  simply  been  that  he  would, 
for  the  sake  of  my  health,  judge  that  I  had  better  not 
go  out  in  the  cold  evening  to  ride.  I  was  willing  to 
take  the  risk  of  that,  and  so,   it  turned  out,  was  he. 

More  than  forty  years  afterwards  one  of  my  own 
children,  a  boy  in  college,  said  to  me :  "  I  would  like 
to  have  ten  dollars,  but  I  do  not  want  you  to  ask  me 
what  I  am  going  to  do  with  it."  This  was  rather  a 
startling  way  of  asking  for  money.  I  thought  of  the 
matter  a  moment;  I  had  perfect  confidence  in  the 
principles  of  the  lad.  Perhaps  now  he  had  become 
involved  in  some  difficulty  that  he  was  sorry  for,  but 
must  pay  for  also ;  or  he  might  have  to  pay  expenses 
for  some  doubtful  performances.  At  any  rate  I  was  sure 
that  he  would  do  right  even  at  the  sacrifice  of  the  good 
opinion  of  his  fellows.  I  gave  him  the  money,  and 
never  knew  what  he  did  with  it. 


36  SAMUEL   IKEN.tUS   PRIME. 

The  peculiar  sensibility  of  my  nature  in  childhood 
is  now  made  mention  of  only  for  the  sake  of  caution 
to  parents  against  trifling  with  such  a  nature,  or  rudely 
seeking  to  suppress  it.  The  features  of  character  in 
children  are  as  diverse  as  their  faces;  all  have  the 
family  likeness,  but  each  has  his  own  peculiar  tem- 
perament. A  wise  parent  watches,  and  seeks  to  guide, 
govern,  restrain,  or  stimulate,  as  they  severally  need. 

I  was  never  in  childhood  or  youth  able  to  look  upon 
the  face  of  a  dead  person  without  being  haunted  by  it 
for  several  nights  afterwards.  In  the  darkness  the  sight 
was  vivid  and  fearful;  and  it  was  long  after  going  to 
bed  before  I  could  fall  asleep.  Whether  my  eyes  were 
shut  or  open,  it  made  no  difference ;  the  corpse  was 
before  me,  a  cold  and  terrible  reality. 

One  day  I  went  into  a  doctor's  office,  and  a  closet 
door  being  opened,  there  was  hanging  in  full  view  a 
human  skeleton.  I  had  never  seen  one  before,  but  the 
pictures  in  books  had  made  me  acquainted  with  it. 
"  Deep  horror  then  my  vitals  froze."  I  fled  from  the 
office,  ran  all  the  way  home,  and  hid  away,  I  had  no 
appetite  for  food  the  rest  of  the  day,  and  had  no  sleep 
that  night. 

Some  one  sent  to  my  mother  as  a  present  a  beauti- 
ful piece  of  wax-work,  the  size  and  shape  of  a  human 
hand ;  it  was  a  perfect  reproduction  of  a  hand,  to  a 
wart  on  one  of  the  fingers.  When  I  first  saw  it  I  had 
not  the  least  doubt  of  its  being  a  man's  hand.  It  made 
me  sick.  I  could  not  eat,  and  I  tried  in  vain  to  get  to 
sleep  at  night ;  and  when  my  mother  came  to  know  why 
I  was  so  restless,  I  was  ashamed  to  confess  the  weakness 
of  being  scared  by  a  wax  figure. 

While  in  my  Senior  year  at  college,  one  evening  as 


EARLY   RECOLLECTIONS.  37 

midnight  was  near,  and  the  college  was  still,  I  was  read- 
ing in  my  room  alone.  I  heard  footsteps  rapidly  ap- 
proaching in  the  hall,  and  then  a  loud  knock  at  my 
door.  Thinking  some  one  wanted  help,  and  had  sent 
for  me,  I  opened  the  door,  and  there  stood  a  man  with 
a  frightful  mask  on  his  face.  I  gave  a  scream,  and 
slamming  the  door,  fell  to  the  floor  insensible.  How 
long  I  lay  I  do  not  know ;  but  the  long  and  wretched 
night  was  spent  in  indescribable  suffering.  Reason  had 
no  power  to  dispel  my  fears,  or  to  stop  the  loud  and 
rapid  palpitations  of  my  heart. 

A  judicious  parent  will  never  punish  a  child  by 
frightening  it,  or  by  threatening  it  with  anything  that 
appeals  to  its  fears.  A  nurse,  servant,  or  teacher  who 
resorts  to  such  discipline  should  be  discharged  at  once, 
and  that  without  the  hope  or  possibility  of  being  re- 
stored. The  one  unpardonable  offence  is  frightening  a 
child. 


VIII. 
MY   FATHER'S  CHURCH. 

Old  Cambridge. —  The  Fixes.  —  The  Old  White  Meeting- 
house.—  Square  Pews.  —  Samuel  i.\  the  Pulpit. 

"^TOT  long  after  coming  to  New  York,  I  was  requested 
"*-  ^  to  furnish  a  scries  of  papers  for  a  religious 
monthly  magazine.  The  "Old  White  Meeting-house; 
or,  Reminiscences  of  a  Country  Congregation  "  followed, 
and  as  the  book  into  which  they  were  gathered  has 
long  since  been  out  of  print  and  forgotten,  I  will  repeat 
some  of  those  memories  here.  They  are  sketches  of 
rural  church  life,  sixty  years  ago,  all  of  which  I  saw, 
and  part  of  which  I  was. 

My  heart  turns  often  and  fondly  to  that  spot  away 
up  in  the  country,  where  my  boyhood  and  youth  were 
passed,  where  those  dear  to  me  are  buried,  where  I 
first  learned  to  read  and  to  pray,  where  I  thought  to 
live  and  to  die.  It  was  in  the  old  town  of  Cambridge, 
in  the  State  of  New  York  ;  and  those  who  know  not  the 
geography  of  that  part  of  the  world  must  be  told  that 
the  town  is  a  wide,  fertile  plain,  some  ten  or  twelve 
miles  across,  circled  with  hills,  watered  by  lovely  and 
gentle  streams,  and  peopled  by  a  set  of  independent 
farmers,  who  are  well  to  do  for  this  world,  and  the  most 
of  them  have  been  wise  enough  to  make  provision  for 
the  world  to  come. 


MY   father's   church.  39 

It  was  in  this  town  that  I  had  my  "  bringing  up." 
I  could  spend  some  time  in  describing  "our  house" 
and  the  things  in  and  around  it ;  and  it  might  not  be 
out  of  the  way  to  do  so,  as  the  natural  course  to  mat- 
ters of  more  public  interest.  There  was  a  stream  close 
by  the  door  that  was  my  resort  in  the  trout  season,  and 
there  was  a  grove  of  pines  but  a  short  distance  off,  into 
which  I  often  in  childhood  wandered  alone ;  and  long 
before  I  ever  heard  of  Coleridge,  or  his  "  Hymn  in  the 
Vale  of  Chamouni "  where  he  says,  — 

"Ye  pine  groves,  with  your  soft  and  soul-like  sounds,"  — 

I  had  loved  to  sit  down  on  the  moss,  and  listen  to  the 
spirit-melody  of  the  still  air  among  the  tree-tops,  sigh- 
ing to  my  soul,  and  saddening,  I  could  not  tell  why, 
my  young  heart.  There  I  used  to  think  of  communing 
with  God  and  the  spirits  of  the  good  in  heaven;  and 
in  the  Solemn  twilight  of  those  deep  shades,  I  had 
thoughts  of  loving  and  serving  God,  which  are  now 
working  themselves  out  in  life's  struggles,  and  will 
never  be  fully  answered  till  he  who  called  me  iJien 
shall  call  me  to  himself.  Then  there  was  the  old 
schoolhouse  and  a  hard  set  of  boys ;  and  I  might 
spend  an  hour,  or  a  week,  in  making  chronicles  of 
the  first  dozen  of  them  that  now  leap  up  before  the 
mind's  eye,  like  young  tigers,  begging  me  to  draw 
their  portraits,  and  send  them  down  the  stream  of 
time  with  these  rough  sketches.  But  the  boys  must 
wait.  We  have  no  room  for  them.  Some  of  them 
will  come  in  by  the  way,  and  we  shall  here  and  there 
set  up  a  stone  to  the  memory  of  some  poor  fellow, 
at  whose  fate  we  drop  a  passing  tear.  It  is  the  reli- 
gious life  of  the  people  that   I   want  to  bring  out  for 


40  SAML'EL  IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

the  entertainment   and   instruction  of  those  who   may 
read. 

"THE   OLD   WHITE   MEETING-HOUSE." 

So  it  was  called,  and  by  this  name  it  was  known  all 
over  the  country.  Not  but  that  there  were  other  white 
meeting-houses  in  that  region,  but  this  was  by  way  of 
eminence  the  White  Meeting-house,  as  the  largest  and 
oldest  and  most  respectable ;  and  when  a  political 
meeting  or  general  training  or  a  show  was  to  be  held 
at  the  tavern  opposite,  the  notice  was  given  that  the 
gathering  was  to  be  at  the  White  Meeting-house  cor- 
ners, and  everybody  for  a  dozen  miles  around  knew 
at  once  where  it  was  to  be. 

It  was  a  large  square  building,  with  a  steeple  whose 
lofty  spire  gave  mc  my  first  and  strongest  impressions 
of"  amazing  height;  "  and  now  as  I  look  at  "Trinity" 
here  in  Broadway,  and  the  men  dwindled  Into  dwarfs 
on  its  all  but  "  cloud-capt  towers,"  it  does  not  look  half 
as  tall  as  that  steeple,  with  a  fish  for  a  zveathcr-cock, 
wheeling  in  the  breeze.  How  often  have  I  lain  on 
"the  green"  in  front  of  that  church,  and  wondered 
how  they  ever  got  that  fish  away  up  there;  or  who 
hitched  the  lightning-rod  to  that  spire,  and  how  any 
one  ever  dared  to  shingle  the  roof  of  that  awful  steeple 
almost  to  the  very  summit!  And  sometimes  in  the 
night  when  I  had  "  bad  dreams,"  I  fancied  that  I  was 
clasping  that  steeple  in  my  little  arms  and  sliding  slowly 
down,  the  steeple  widening,  and  my  hold  relaxing,  till 
at  length  down  I  came,  down,  down ;  and  just  as  I  was 
to  strike  the  ground  I  would  wake  in  terror,  and  be 
afraid  to  go  to  sleep  again,  lest  I  should  repeat  that 
terrible  slide. 


MY   FATHER  S    CHURCH. 


41 


The  church  had  square  pews,  with  high  partitions 
and  sash-work  between,  which  were  great  inlets  of 
amusement  to  the  children,  who  were  always  thrusting 
their  arms  through,  and  sometimes  their  heads,  in  the 
midst  of  the  sermon,  but  more  particularly  in  prayer 
time,  for  then  they  were  more  likely  to  escape  obser- 
vation. These  square  pews  the  minister  always  was 
free  to  say  he  regarded  as  an  invention  of  the  Devil ; 
and  there  was  some  reason  to  believe  that  the  Devil 
had  the  right  to  a  patent.  As  half  of  the  congrega- 
tion must  sit  with  their  backs  to  the  preacher,  it  was 
customary  for  the  parents  to  place  the  children  in  this 
position;  and  it  is  easy  to  see  that  thus  situated  it 
would  be  next  to  impossible  to  secure  their  attention 
to  the  services  of  the  sanctuary.  Of  course  the  Devil 
would  be  pleased  with  an  arrangement  which  so  effect- 
ually prevents  the  young  from  becoming  interested  in 
divine  tmth,  and  I  do  not  therefore  wonder  at  the  good 
minister's  notice  of  the  origin  of  the  plan. 

The  pulpit  was  like  unto  an  immense  barrel  sup- 
ported on  a  single  post.  Its  interior  was  gained  by  a 
lofty  flight  of  steps,  and  the  preacher  once  in  posses- 
sion had  certainly  a  most  commanding  position.  I  can 
recollect  often  thinking  how  easy  it  would  be  with  a 
saw  to  cut  away  the  pillar  on  which  this  old  pulpit 
tottered,  and  then  what  a  tremendous  crash  it  would 
make,  coming  down  with  the  minister  in  it. 

This  reminds  me  of  one  of  the  minister's  boys,  an 
arch  rogue,  about  five  years  old,  who  was  so  much  in 
the  habit  of  misbehaving  in  meeting  that  he  had  to 
be  punished  often  and  soundly,  but  with  no  sanative 
consequences.  His  father  threatened  frequently  to  take 
him  into  the  pulpit  with  him  if  he  did  not  behave  better, 


42  SAMUEL   IRENVliUS    PRIME. 

but  the  youngster  never  believed  that  he  was  serious 
in  the  threat,  or  if  he  was,  the  boy  thought  that  there 
was  as  much  chance  for  fun  in  the  pulpit  behind  his 
father's  back  as  there  was  in  the  pew  before  him.  At 
length  the  pastor  was  as  good  as  his  word,  and  one 
Sunday  morning,  to  the  surprise  of  the  people,  he  led 
his  roguish  boy  up  into  the  pulpit,  and  proceeded  with 
the  service.  Samuel  began  to  be  uneasy,  but  remained 
comfortably  quiet  until  the  long  prayer  began;  then  he 
fidgeted  up  on  the  seat,  and  peeked  over  upon  the 
congregation  below.  And  finally,  as  a  sudden  thought 
struck  him,  he  threw  one  leg  over  the  pulpit,  and  there 
sat  astride  of  the  sacred  desk,  drumming  with  his  little 
heels  upon  the  boards.  The  good  pastor  at  prayer 
could  not  turn  aside  to  dismount  his  hopeful  boy,  but 
between  his  fears  that  the  child  would  fall,  and  the  in- 
dications of  mirth  among  the  young  folks  in  the  church, 
the  minister  had  more  than  he  could  do  to  keep  his 
thoughts  on  the  service,  and  he  therefore  speedily 
brought  his  petitions  to  a  close,  and  seized  the  youth 
in  the  midst  of  his  ride.  We  never  saw  Samuel  in  the 
pulpit  again,  and  a  marked  improvement  in  his  man- 
ners gave  us  reason  to  believe  that  certain  domestic 
appliances  were  resorted  to,  which  have  the  recom- 
mendation of  the  wisest  of  men  as  useful  in  cases  of 
this  desperate  nature. 


IX. 

IN   THE   GRAVEYARD. 

Swallows.  —  Summer  Services.  —  Among  the  Tombs.  —  The 
Sabbath  Question.  —  Country  Funerals.  —  City  Burials. 

THE  old  church  was  the  haunt  of  swallows  that  built 
their  nests  under  its  eaves ;  and  it  was  no  unusual 
thing  for  one  of  these  swift-winged  birds  to  dart  into  the 
open  window  on  a  summer  Sabbath,  and  by  some  strange 
perversity  to  persist  in  flying  everywhere  but  out  of  the 
window  again,  till  wearied  with  flying  to  and  fro,  it  would 
light  on  the  sounding-board  over  the  minister's  head. 
These  gyrations  were  quite  an  amusement  to  the  child- 
ren ;  and  I  remember  that  on  one  of  these  occasions  the 
same  young  Samuel  who  has  already  been  introduced 
thought  he  had  hit  upon  something  smart  when  he 
turned  up  the  eighty-fourth  Psalm  in  Watts :  — 

"  And  wandering  swallows  long  ' 

To  find  their  wonted  rest." 

But  that  pulpit  or  that  house  was  no  place  for  mirth. 
Never  in  all  the  wanderings  of  after-life,  in  splendid 
temples,  where  the  wealth  of  princes  has  been  lavished 
to  make  honorable  the  house  of  God,  where  the  stained 
windows  shed  dim  religious  light  over  the  solemn  courts, 
and  the  great  organ  poured  its  deep  thunders  on  the 
ear,  never  there  or  elsewhere  have  I  seen  or  heard  so 
much  of  God  as  in  that  old  white  meeting-house.     It 


44  SAMUEL    IREN.KUS    I'RIME. 

was  a  plain  house,  it  is  true.  Except  the  pulpit  and  the 
front  of  the  gallery,  the  whole  interior  was  innocent  of 
paint,  and  the  bare  floor  rang  under  the  heavy  tread  of 
the  substantial  farmers  as  they  came  up  the  narrow 
aisles  with  their  horse-whips  in  their  hands.  And  they 
were  a  plain  people  in  that  church;  some  of  them  in 
hot  weather  sat  with  their  coats  off,  and  some  stood  up 
in  sermon-time  when  they  became  drowsy  by  sitting. 
It  was  all  the  plainness  of  a  country  congregation  in  a 
country  meeting-house;  but  God  was  there.  I  heard 
him  in  his  preached  Word,  when  the  strong  truths  of 
the  gospel  were  poured  with  energy  from  that  sacred 
desk,  not  in  enticing  words  of  man's  wisdom,  but  with 
the  demonstration  of  the  Spirit  and  with  power.  I  felt 
him  when  the  Holy  Ghost  came  down  on  the  congrega- 
tion as  on  the  day  of  Pentecost,  and  strong  men  bowed 
themselves  under  the  mighty  influence  of  subduing 
grace. 

In  the  rear  of  the  meeting-house  was  the  graveyard, 
and  all  my  early  recollections  of  death  and  the  grave 
are  associated  with  that  quiet  and  solemn  spot.  It  was 
a  large  enclosure  which  had  never  been  laid  off  in  "  lots 
to  suit  purchasers;  "  but  a  decent  interval  was  left  be- 
tween families,  and  all  came  there  on  common  ground. 
A  few  pines  of  a  large  growth  Vvcre  scattered  in  it,  and 
with  the  exception  of  here  and  there  a  rose-bush,  the 
place  was  unadorned.  But  it  had  attractions.  For  every 
Sabbath  day  during  the  interval  of  divine  worship,  the 
people  from  a  distance,  who  remained  at  church  "  bring- 
ing their  dinner  "  with  them,  were  in  the  habit  of  walk- 
ing among  the  tombs,  meditating  upon  themes  suggested 
by  the  inscriptions  they  read  upon  the  head-stones,  and 
speaking  to  one  another  of  the  virtues  of  those  whom 


IN   THE   GRAVEYARD.  45 

when  living  they  had  known  and  loved.  And  often  of  a 
summer  Sabbath  evening,  the  young  people  would  stroll 
into  the  yard,  the  gate  of  which  was  always  left  open  on 
the  Sabbath,  and  at  such  time  there  was  never  heard  the 
slightest  indication  of  levity  or  irreverence  for  the  holy 
day. 

But  observance  of  the  Sabbath  was  a  strongly  marked 
feature  of  that  place  and  people.  A  simple  fact  will 
show  the  state  of  public  opinion  on  this  subject.  On 
one  occasion  several  young  men,  chiefly  from  some 
mechanical  establishments  lately  set  up  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, not  having  the  fear  of  God  or  the  laws  of  man 
before  their  eyes,  made  up  a  party  and  went  off  to  the 
mountains  to  pick  whortleberries.  The  minister  and  a 
few  of  the  good  men  held  a  consultation,  and  it  was  de- 
termined to  put  the  statute  of  the  State  into  execution 
and  make  an  example  of  them,  to  prevent  the  pernicious 
influences  which  might  result  to  the  whole  community 
if  such  a  flagrant  breach  of  morals  were  suffered  to  go 
unpunished.  Accordingly  the  whole  party  were  arrested, 
brought  before  'Squire  King,  and  fined  one  dollar  each. 
There  was  no  help  for  them,  and  they  paid  the  fine ; 
but  they  watched  the  opportunity  for  revenge.  And  it 
soon  came,  in  a  small  way ;  for  on  the  next  Sabbath 
afternoon  they  saw  the  'Squire's  daughter,  a  fine  girl  of 
seventeen,  in  the  garden  picking  a  few  currants,  and  they 
complained  of  her  to  her  own  father,  had  her  arrested, 
and  the  fact  being  too  clearly  established  by  proof  to 
admit  of  any  evasion,  the  'Squire  was  compelled  to  im- 
pose the  fine  and  pay  it  himself!  This  was  quite  a 
triumph  for  these  low  fellows,  who,  however,  were  very 
careful  not  to  go  after  whortleberries  on  the  Sabbath 
again.     But  this  is  wandering  out  of  the  old  graveyard. 


46  SAMUEL   IREN.EUS    PRIME. 

There  was  a  simple  beauty  and  solemnity  in  those 
country  funerals  that  I  have  not  observed  for  years.  A 
death  in  the  country  is  a  widely  different  event  in  its 
relations  and  effects  from  one  in  the  city.  The  other 
day  I  observed  an  unusual  gathering  at  the  house  of  my 
next-door  neighbor,  a  man  whom  I  had  never  known 
even  by  sight.  Presently  a  hearse  stood  in  front  of  the 
house,  and  I  soon  learned  that  it  had  come  to  take  away 
the  body  of  my  neighbor  to  his  burial.  It  was  sad  to 
think  of,  that  I  could  have  been  living  with  only  a  thin 
wall  between  me  and  a  brother  man  who  had  been  for 
weeks  struggling  with  disease,  and  who  had  finally  sunk 
into  the  arms  of  death,  while  I  had  never  even  felt  the 
tenderness  of  sympathy  with  him  or  his  in  the  days  and 
nights  of  suffering  and  sorrow  which  they  had  known. 
Yet  so  it  is  in  this  city.  Your  nearest  neighbors  are 
utter  strangers,  and  may  sicken  and  die  and  be  buried, 
and  you  will  know  nothing  of  it  unless  you  happen  to 
be  at  home  when  the  hearse  comes  or  goes. 

It  is  not  so  in  the  country.  There  in  Cambridge, 
when  one  was  sick  all  the  neighbors  knew  it  and  felt  it ; 
kindness,  like  balm,  fell  on  the  heart  of  the  sufferer  from 
every  family  near,  and  when  death  came  solemnity  was 
on  every  heart.  All  the  country-side,  from  far  and  near, 
without  being  invited,  came  to  the  funeral  and  filled  the 
house  and  the  door-yard,  and  when  the  services  were 
concluded,  the  coffin  was  brought  out  in  front  of  the 
house,  and  the  multitude  were  permitted  to  take  a 
farewell  look  at  the  departed.  Then  the  remains  were 
borne  away  to  the  grave,  followed  by  a  long  train,  not 
of  hired  carriages,  but  of  plain  wagons  filled  with  sym- 
pathizing friends;  and  the  procession  moved  on  slowly 
and  silently,  often  many  miles,  to  the  place  of  burial. 


IN   THE   GRAVEYARD.  47 

As  it  reached  the  yard  those  who  Hved  near  would 
drop  in,  and  join  the  crowd  that  was  now  gathering  at 
the  open  grave ;  and  the  children  of  the  neighborhood, 
especially,  were  sure  to  be  present  at  such  times. 
Frequently  have  I  been  deeply  moved  by  the  scenes 
around  those  graves,  —  for  there  in  the  country,  nature 
revealed  itself  in  its  simple  power,  —  and  the  deep,  but 
half-stifled  groan  that  has  come  to  my  soul  when  the 
first  clods  fell  on  the  coffin  was  as  if  they  fell  on  the 
warm  breast  of  a  sleeping  friend.  We  see  no  such 
funerals  here  in  this  great  city,  —  itself  a  mighty  charnel- 
house.  We  take  our  dead  to  the  narrow  cemetery,  and 
for  thirty  pieces  of  silver  purchase  the  privilege  of  put- 
ting the  precious  dust  into  a  great  cellar.  Some  time 
ago  a  friend  of  mine  wanted  to  remove  the  ashes  of  his 
wife  from  one  of  these  receptacles,  and  he  applied  to 
the  keeper  for  that  purpose ;  the  man  objected  on 
account  of  the  time  that  would  be  consumed  in  the 
undertaking.  My  friend  offered  to  defray  all  the  ex- 
penses, and  reward  him  liberally  besides,  but  it  was 
of  no  avail ;  and  he  was  finally  told  that  it  would  be 
impossible  ever  to  find  or  recover  the  remains.  These 
are  city  burials.  Rural  cemeteries  are  now  tcioyq  fash- 
ionable in  the  neighborhood  of  cities.  Let  them  be 
encouraged.  Dust  we  are,  and  when  we  die  let  us  go 
back  to  our  mother's  bosom,  and  rest  there  till  mortal 
puts  on  immortality. 


OUR   MINISTER. 

The  V^iolateo  Grave.  —  Nathaniel  Scudder  Prime.  —  His 
Mighty  Voice.  —  Ax  Irreverent  Hearer, 

"jV /TV  recollections  of  the  old  graveyard  at  Cambridge 
•*'^-*-  remind  me  of  the  great  excitement  which  once 
pervaded  the  community  when  it  was  reported  that  a 
grave  had  been  violated  in  that  peaceful  yard,  and  the 
lifeless  tenant  carried  off  by  the  doctors.  The  appear- 
ance of  the  grave  led  to  suspicion  that  there  had  been 
foul  play.  It  was  examined,  and  the  suspicions  were 
found  to  be  too  true.  The  body  of  a  girl  some  four- 
teen years  of  age,  of  respectable  family,  had  been 
stolen  from  the  sepulchre  to  be  cut  up  and  made  into 
a  "  'natomy,"  as  the  people  expressed  it.  The  whole 
town  was  aghast.  Such  an  outrage  had  never  been 
heard  of  in  that  part  of  the  world,  and  the  good  people 
could  scarcely  believe  that  such  monsters  lived  as  men 
who  dig  up  corpses  to  hack  them,  in  pieces.  They  met 
in  righteous  indignation,  and  appointed  a  committee  of 
investigation,  who  never  rested  till  they  got  upon  the 
trail  of  the  hyenas;  they  never  rested  till  the  perpe- 
trator of  the  deed  was  in  prison,  and  the  instigator  — 

Dr- ,  who  escaped  by  some  flaw  in  the  indictment . 

—  was  compelled  to  remove  from  the  town. 

These  events   naturally  led   to  great   apprehensions 
respecting  other  graves,  and   many  were  searched   by 


OUR   MINISTER 


49 


anxious  friends,  who  now  watched  the  tombs  with 
more  vigilance  than  did  the  guards  set  over  the  holy 
sepulchre.  The  impression  became  very  strong  that 
a  certain  grave  had  been  robbed.  It  was  the  grave 
of  a  lovely  woman,  the  wife  of  a  drunkard ;  and  the 
fact  that  he  was  dead  to  all  feeling,  and  consequently 
would  not  be  likely  to  care  what  became  of  the  body 
of  his  wife,  seemed  to  confirm  the  grounds  of  suspicion, 
and  finally  it  was  determined  to  make  the  examination. 
It  was  the  afternoon  of  a  warm  day  in  the  midst  of 
summer,  when  I,  a  mere  child  then,  was  attracted  into 
the  yard  by  seeing  a  number  of  men  around  a  grave. 
I  soon  learned  what  was  going  on,  and  creeping  be- 
tween the  feet  of  those  who  were  standing  nearest,  I 
was  soon  immediately  over  the  head  of  the  grave  which 
they  had  now  opened  down  to  the  coffin.  Having 
cleared  off  the  earth,  and  started  the  fastenings  of 
the  lid,  which  were  all  found  secure,  they  raised  it, 
and  the  full  light  of  the  sun  flowed  upon  the  most 
horrid  spectacle  which  my  eyes  before  or  since  have 
seen,  —  "corruption,  earth,  and  worms  "  were  there. 

I  waited  not  for  a  second  look,  but  ran  from  the  spot 
in  awful  terror,  and  have,  from  that  time,  had  an  image 
of  "  death's  doings"  which  I  never  could  have  obtained 
but  for  the  loathsome  revelations  of  that  graveyard 
scene. 

These  are  not  the  things  that  I  intended  to  record  of 
that  hallowed  spot.  Yet  they  are,  perhaps,  among  the 
most  vivid  impressions  that  I  retain  of  it,  —  unless  it  be 
my  fears  to  pass  it  alone  after  dark !  And  I  should  as 
soon  have  thought  of  setting  fire  to  the  church  as  of 
playing  within  the  enclosure.  I  looked  upon  it  with 
reverential  awe  as  "God's  acre;"  and  I  wish  with  all 


50  SAMUEL   IREN.i:US   PRIME. 

my  heart  that  the  feeling  of  regard  for  sacred  places, 
and  times,  and  things,  which  we  felt  in  our  childhood 
might  return. 

Our  minister  was  my  father,  the  Rev.  Nathaniel 
Scudder  Prime.  He  had  no  one  singularity  of  which 
I  can  now  think;  and  if  the  reader  jumps  to  the  .con- 
clusion that  he  was  therefore  a  moderate,  every-day 
sort  of  man,  not  worth  knowing  about,  he  must  even 
skip  the  description,  and  go  on  to  something  more  to 
his  taste. 

That  I  have  looked  up  to  him  with  such  a  reverential 
awe  as  the  present  degenerate  age  knows  very  little  of 
is  very  likely;  and  it  may  be  that  if  he  had  lived  in 
this  day,  when  all  ministers  are  so  good,  or  all  children 
so  much  more  advanced  than  they  were  sixty  years 
ago,  perhaps  he  would  not  stand  out  before  the  world 
with  so  bold  a  prominence  as  he  did  in  my  eyes.  When 
he  walked  slowly  but  modestly  up  the  aisle,  and  climbed 
the  lofty  pulpit,  I  thought  he  was  the  holiest  man  in  the 
world  ;  he  seemed  aivfitlly  holy  !  I  have  never  had  the 
least  reason  to  suppose  that  I  was  mistaken  in  those 
notions  about  him,  yet  much  allowance  may  doubtless 
be  made  for  a  child's  reverence  for  his  /ather,  in  days 
now  gone,  to  come  back  never,  I  sadly  fear. 

He  was  thirty-five  or  forty  years  of  age  when  I  was 
five  or  six,  and  consequently  he  was  ahvays  an  old  man 
in  my  eyes;  and  I  have  no  other  recollections  of  him 
than  those  associated  with  the  deepest  reverence.  That 
he  ever  sinned,  I  never  supposed ;  and  if  any  one 
had  mentioned  anything  to  his  disadvantage  in  my 
hearing,  it  would  have  shocked  me  very  much,  as  it 
would  now  to  hear  of  a  peccadillo  in  an  angel.  This 
is  no  place,  and  I  have  no  time,  to  go  into  the  reasons 


OUR   MINISTER. 


51 


of  the  change  in  the  sentiment  of  children  respecting 
their  minister,  but  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart  I  wish 
that  the  good  old  times  of  Edwards  would  come  back 
again,  or  if  that  is  wishing  too  much,  the  times  when  I 
was  a  boy !  Those  were  good  times  compared  with 
these,  though  I  have  no  hope  to  convince  the  young 
of  it. 

He  had  an  extraordinary  voice.  Perhaps  this  ought 
to  be  written  down  as  a  singularity.  It  rings  this  mo- 
ment in  my  ears  just  as  it  did  sixty  years  ago,  and 
not  with  the  most  pleasant  music,  for  it  was  harsh  and 
strong,  and  when  he  was  roused  by  the  great  theme 
of  pulpit  discourse,  the  gospel  would  come  down  in 
such  torrents  of  overwhelming  sound  that  it  sometimes 
seemed  to  me  the  people  must  be  carried  by  storm. 
Yet  was  he  far  from  being  a  violent  preacher.  He  had 
too  much  of  the  milk  of  human  kindness  in  his  soul  to 
say  hard  things  in  a  hard  way,  but  the  power  of  which 
I  speak  was  the  voice  of  a  mighty  man,  on  the  mighti- 
est theme  that  ever  employed  the  lips  of  man,  and  how 
could  he  be  otherwise  than  overpowering?  At  times 
his  voice  was  terrible  !  That  is  to  say,  when  he  sud- 
denly raised  it  in  a  tone  of  command,  he  would  start 
every  dull  soul  in  that  assembly  as  if  a  thunderbolt  had 
hit  the  old  white  meeting-house  in  the  middle  of  the 
sermon. 

One  Sabbath,  when  the  congregation  was  unusually 
silent  and  solemn,  a  half-crazy  man,  but  more  mischiev- 
ous than  mad,  rose  in  the  gallery,  and  commenced 
making  various  gesticulations  to  amuse  the  young  peo- 
ple, who  sat  in  that  part  of  the  house.  The  congrega- 
tion below  did  not  know  that  anything  was  going  on, 
but  the  minister  saw  it  in  a  moment ;    and  to  try  gentle 


52  SAMUEL    IREN/EUS    I'Kl.Mi:. 

means  at  first,  he  made  a  sign  to  the  man  to  sit  down 
and  be  still.  Wilson  kept  his  fun  in  operation  till  the 
forbearance  of  Mr.  Prime  was  quite  spent,  and  looking 
sternly  at  him,  he  thundered  out,  "  J/r.  Wilson,  sit 
down,  sir!"  The  man  fell  back  in  his  seat  as  though 
a  bludgeon  had  smote  him,  and  never  raised  his  head 
during  the  service.  He  called  the  next  day  on  Mr. 
Prime  and  made  an  apology,  and  sealed  it  by  sending 
him  a  load  of  wood. 

But  it  was  the  effect  of  his  voice  upon  the  congre- 
gation of  which  I  was  speaking.  If  the  roof  had  fallen 
in,  the  people  would  scarcely  have  been  more  startled 
than  by  this  pastoral  explosion.  Every  heart  trembled, 
and  it  was  some  time  before  the  children  could  get  their 
breath.  Yet  there  was  no  sign  of  impatience  or  any 
other  unholy  passion,  in  the  sudden  blow  of  his  voice, 
by  which  the  minister  had  laid  low  his  disorderly 
auditor;  but  there  was  majesty  and  power  in  those 
tremendous  tones,  which  carried  conviction  to  every 
conscience  that  Mr.  Prime  was  not  a  man  to  be  trifled 
with,  and  that,  standing  in  God's  name  and  house,  he 
would  teach  every  man  to  keep  in  his  place. 


XI. 

PREACHER   AND   PASTOR. 

A  True  Shepherd.  —  "Saying  the  Catechism." — Preach- 
ing THE  Doctrines. 

T  TAVING  spoken  of  my  father's  remarkable  vocal 
-^     power,   it  is   in  order  to  speak  of  the  authority 
which    he  wielded    in    that  congregation.     It   was   the 
beauty  of  poivcr.     It  was  right  that  he  should   rule  in 
the  church,  according  to  the  laws  of  the  church,  and 
the  Word  of  God ;    but  his  rule  was  that  of  love,  —  so 
kindly,  yet  firmly  dispensed  that  no  man   thought  of 
quarrelling  with  it  who  did  not  also  war  against  divine 
authority.     The  pastor  was  the  pastor.     As  shepherd 
of  the  flock,  it  was  his  office  to  watch  over  them  and 
keep  them,  as  far  as  in  him  lay,  from  wandering  into 
dangerous  ways,  and  from  the  covert  or  open  assaults 
of  enemies,  who  go  about  like  their  master,  the  Devil, 
seeking  whom  they  may  devour.     And  when  any  one 
or  any  dozen  of  the  sheep  took  it  into  their  heads  that 
they  knew  more  about  the  proper   mode  of  managing 
the  flock  than  the  sJiepherd  whom  the  Lord  had  sent 
to  tend  them,  they  soon  found  that  they  had  mistaken 
their  calling,  and  would  consult  their  happiness  and  use- 
fulness by  quietly  minding  their  own  business.     Now, 
you  would   not  do  Mr.  Prime  exact  justice  if  the   in- 
ference should   be   drawn   from  this    fact   that  he  was 
regardless  of  the  wishes  of  his  people,   or  kept  them 
at  a  distance  when  they  wished  to  take  counsel  with 


;4  SAMUEL   IKEN.-EUS    PRIME. 

him  on  the  interests  of  the  church.  Far  otherwise  were 
his  temper  and  practice.  They  were  taught,  and  they 
learned,  to  come  with  all  freedom  and  lay  their  hearts 
before  him  ;  and  the  patience  and  sympathy  with  which 
he  listened  to  their  individual,  and  all  but  endless  sto- 
ries is  a  matter  of  wonder  to  me,  now  that  I  call  to 
mind  how  much  of  it  he  was  compelled  to  endure. 
While  he  was  ready  always  to  enter  with  kindness  and 
freedom  into  the  varied  wants  of  those  who  came  to 
him  with  "  something  on  their  minds,"  he  knew  his  own 
duties  too  well,  and  his  high  responsibility  to  God,  to 
suffer  them  for  a  moment  to  dictate  to  him  as  to  the 
mode  in  which  he  should  manage  the  flock  of  which 
he  had  been  made  the  overseer.  Even  in  those  days, 
the  people  would  sometimes  have  "itching  ears"  to 
hear  a  new-light  preacher  of  great  renown,  who  was 
turning  the  world  upside  down  with  his  eloquence,  and 
they  would  take  some  roundabout  way  to  hint  to  their 
pastor  that  it  would  be  a  good  plan  to  send  for  him  to 
come  and  give  them  a  few  rousing  sermons.  But  they 
were  not  long  in  finding  that  he  held  the  ke}'s  of  the 
pulpit  in  his  own  hand,  and  asked  whom  he  pleased, 
and  none  others,  to  feed  his  flock.  If  this  uniform 
course  of  conduct  now  and  then  chafed  the  necks  of 
some  of  the  less  judicious  of  the  congregation,  the 
pastor  had  two  rich  and  all-sufficient  sources  of  com- 
fort,—  the  support  of  all  the  better  sort  of  his  people, 
and  the  approbation  of  a  good  conscience. 

His  intercourse  with  his  people  did  not  confine  itself 
to  their  visits  at  his  study  or  house.  He  sought  them 
at  their  own  homes,  and  around  their  firesides  and 
tables  he  mingled  with  them  in  such  easy  and  cheerful 
conversation  that  thev  felt  him  to  be  their  friend,  while 


PREACHER   AND    PASTOR.  55 

they  never  forgot  that  he  was  their  teacher  and  guide 
to  heaven.  The  children  never  felt  altogether  at  home 
when  the  minister  was  there.  They  were  not  quite  so 
free  to  come  into  the  room,  and  they  hung  down  their 
heads,  and  perhaps  kept  one  thumb  in  their  mouths, 
as  if  they  were  very  much  ashamed  of  themselves  when 
summoned  into  his  presence  "  to  say  the  catechism," 
and  receive  such  good  and  wholesome  advice  as  he 
never  failed  to  administer,  in  tones  that  sunk  deep  into 
their  young  hearts.  Those  were  often  very  solemn  sea- 
sons, and  if  the  practice  is  passing  away  from  the  churches 
of  our  land,  I  would  that  it  might  be  restored  again. 

In  these  good  days  of  Sunday-schools,  and  other 
excellent  but  modern  modes  of  training  up  children 
in  the  way  in  which  they  should  go,  the  old-fashioned 
plan  of  pastoral-catechising  has  been  laid  aside  in  very 
many  parts  of  our  land.  I  speak  not  of  the  catechism 
of  any  particular  creed.  All  those  who  call  themselves 
Christian  have  a  duty  to  perform  to  their  children,  and 
if  the  pastor  and  parents  would  imitate  the  example  of 
Mr.  Prime,  they  would  bless  their  children  and  the 
country.  In  these  pastoral  visits,  and  in  the  instruc- 
tion which  the  young  received  in  preparation  for  it, 
were  laid  the  principles  of  that  attachment  to  the  doc- 
trines of  the  gospel,  of  the  order  of  the  church,  and  of 
submission  to  the  law  of  God  and  of  man,  obedience 
to  parents,  respect  to  those  who  are  older,  wiser,  and 
better,  that  ever  marked  the  youth  who  were  trained 
under  the  ministry  of  this  man  of  God ;  and  I  am  in- 
clined to  think  that  if  you  follow  the  whole  generation 
that  passed  their  childhood  in  that  congregation  at  that 
time,  you  will  find  very  few  who  have  not  become,  and 
remained  till  death,  sober,  quiet,  substantial  citizens,  and 
Viseful,  honest  men. 


56  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS    PRIME. 

In  speaking  of  Mr.  IVimc's  voice,  I  touched  inciden- 
tally upon  his  power  as  a  preacher.  He  was  eminently 
an  instructive  preacher.  It  was  his  aim  to  produce  an 
intelligent  conviction  in  the  minds  of  his  hearers  of  the 
truth  of  the  great  doctrines  of  the  gospel,  to  elucidate 
them  with  so  much  distinctness  that  they  should  readily 
admit  their  force,  and  thus  he  would  lay  the  foundation 
for  those  overwhelming  appeals  to  duty  that  so  marked 
his  jiulpit  ministrations.  He  was  great  on  the  doctrines. 
I  make  this  remark  in  this  blunt  way  that  the  fact  may 
stand  out  the  more  distinctly.  He  thought  the  religious 
system  of  the  Bible  was  a  system  of  great  truths,  having 
an  intimate  relation  to  one  another,  and  an  inseparable 
connection  with  the  character,  and  consequently  the 
destiny  of  men.  Instead,  therefore,  of  spending  his 
time  and  strength  in  exhibiting  himself,  or  in  amusing 
his  people  with  theories  and  speculations  of  his  own ; 
instead  of  merely  practical  exhortations  which  constitute 
so  great  a  part  of  the  preaching  of  many  excellent  and 
devoted  men,  he  labored  to  bring  home  to  the  minds 
and  the  hearts  of  his  people  those  cardinal  doctrines  of 
the  gospel  which  lie  at  the  root  of  all  true  faith  and  holy 
living,  and  by  a  course  of  regular  and  lucid  expositions 
of  the  sacred  oracles,  he  led  them  to  behold  these  doc- 
trines shining  with  lustre  and  majestic  beauty  on  every 
page  of  revelation.  And  when  these  strong  truths  were 
thus  unfolded,  he  would  stand  upon  them  as  on  a  mount 
of  glory,  and  thence  urge  the  claims  of  God  and  the 
gospel  with  words  of  fervid  heat  and  strength,  that 
melted  the  hearts  on  which  they  fell,  and  mingled  their 
saving  power  in  the  mass  thus  dissolved  in  the  breasts 
of  the  assembly. 


XII. 
PASTORAL  WORK. 

"Fixing  Up."  —  Profitable  Interviews.  —  Faithful  Ad- 
monitions.—  Household  Gatherings.  —  A  Godly  Com- 
munity. 

AS  soon  as  my  father  arrived  at  any  house  in  his 
scattered  and  extended  parish,  all  the  ordinary 
cares  of  the  family  were  suspended,  and  the  whole  time 
of  every  member  given  to  him.  On  his  first  induction 
to  this  people,  it  was  the  custom  of  the  good  woman  of 
the  house  to  begin  to  fly  about  when  the  minister  came, 
to  fix  up  the  best  parlor,  and  get  ready  some  warm  bis- 
cuit for  tea,  or  a  pair  of  chickens  for  dinner,  if  he  came 
before  noon,  and  thus  all  her  time  was  spent,  like  that 
of  Martha,  in  much  serving.  Mr.  Prime  soon  put  an 
end  to  that  mode  of  entertainment  by  informing  his 
people  from  the  pulpit  that  when  he  came  to  see  them 
at  their  houses  it  was  not  to  be  feasted,  but  to  feed  their 
souls  and  the  souls  of  their  children ;  and  therefore,  if 
they  wished  to  please  him,  they  would  do  as  Mary  did, 
sit  still  and  listen.  This  hint,  after  sundry  repetitions, 
had  the  desired  effect,  and  he  was  able  to  enjoy  the 
whole  time  of  his  visit  in  those  great  duties  which  he  felt 
to  be  of  unspeakable  importance  to  the  spiritual  welfare 
of  the  family.  The  heads  of  the  household  were  first 
conversed  with  freely  on  the  progress  which  they  were 
making  in  personal  religion ;  if  they  had  doubts  and  fears, 


58  SAMUEL    IRi;X.liLS    I'KIMi:. 

or  any  other  diftkulties  about  wliich  they  needed  direc- 
tion, they  were  encouraged  to  make  them  known,  and 
from  the  stores  of  his  well- furnished  mind  and  the  richer 
treasures  of  a  deeply  spiritual  experience,  and  great 
familiarity  with  the  Word  of  God,  he  was  able  to  impart 
just  that  counsel  which  their  trials  seemed  to  require. 
If  they  were  backward  in  their  performance  of  any  of 
the  acknowledged  duties  of  Christian  life,  if  the  worship 
of  God  in  the  family  was  not  faithfully  attended  to,  if 
they  were  at  variance  with  any  of  their  neighbors,  or 
slack  in  the  discharge  of  their  obligations  to  their  fellow- 
men,  he  would  in  all  kindness,  but  witli  skilful  decision, 
as  their  soul's  physician,  give  them  those  prescriptions 
without  which  it  was  impossible  for  their  souls  to  tiirive. 
Such  fidelity  and  freedom  on  his  part,  so  far  from 
alienating  their  affections,  did  but  endear  him  to  them 
the  more,  as  they  saw  his  affectionate  interest  in  their 
souls'  concerns,  and  felt  the  power  and  truth  of  the  ad- 
monitions which  he  gave.  And  then  these  admonitions 
were  often  blessed  of  God  to  the  great  comfort  and  edi- 
fication of  the  people,  who  thus  found  in  their  own 
happy  experience  the  ineffable  value  of  a  faithful  pastor, 
whom  they  loved  even  when  he  came  to  wound. 

The  children  were  called  in,  and  were  examined,  as  I 
have  hinted,  in  the  catechism,  in  which  they  were  regu- 
larly instructed  by  their  parents.  The  doctrines  therein 
contained  were  familiarly  explained,  and  the  young  were 
most  earnestly  persuaded  to  give  their  hearts  to  the 
Saviour  while  yet  in  the  morning  of  their  days.  As  the 
congregation  was  widely  extended,  Mr.  Prime  would 
give  notice  on  the  Sabbath,  that  during  the  week  on  a 
certain  day  he  would  \isit  in  such  a  neighborhood,  and  at 
three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  he  wished  the  families  in 


PASTORAL   WORK,  59 

that  vicinity  to  assemble  at  a  house  named  for  rehgious 
conversation  and  prayer.  And  those  were  good  meet- 
ings, you  may  be  sure;  the  farmer's  house  in  which  it 
was  held  would  be  filled  with  parents  and  children,  the 
halls  and  the  staircase  crowded ;  a  little  stand,  with  a 
Bible  and  psalm-book,  would  be  set  for  the  minister  at 
some  point  from  which  his  voice  could  easily  be  heard 
over  all  the  house ;  and  such  prayers  and  such  appeals 
would  be  then  and  there  made  as  the  Spirit  of  God  de- 
lights to  attend  and  bless.  How  many  tears  did  the 
children  shed  in  those  meetings  ;  not  alarmed  by  terrible 
words  of  coming  wrath,  but  melted  with  the  pathos  of 
gospel  love,  and  moved  by  the  strong  appeals  of  that 
holy  man.  Impressions,  I  know,  were  made  at  those 
meetings  that  eternity  will  only  brighten  and  deepen,  as 
the  memory  of  those  solemn  yet  happy  hours  mingles 
with  the  joy  of  immortal  bliss. 

The  ^effects  of  this  ministry  were,  as  might  be  ex- 
pected, immediate  and  permanent.  The  Word  of  the 
Lord  had  free  course  and  was  glorified.  The  young 
grew  up  to  manhood  with  strong  attachments  to  the 
faith  of  their  fathers,  the  members  of  the  church  were 
steadfast  in  their  adherence  to  the  truth  as  they  had  re- 
ceived it,  and  it  was  rare  to  see  a  man  in  the  community 
who  was  not  a  professor  of  religion.  The  institutions  of 
the  gospel  commanded  the  respect  and  reverence  of  the 
whole  people.  Impiety  was  scarcely  known  in  the  town, 
so  deep-settled  and  widespread  was  this  regard  for  the 
truths  of  God's  Word  and  the  ordinances  of  his  house. 

Here  I  was  on  the  point  of  speaking  of  the  great  re- 
vivals of  religion  which  followed  such  a  ministry,  but 
they  will  demand  more  space  than  I  have  now  left.  In 
future  these  may  come  before  us  with  some  of  that  ten- 


6o  SAMUEL   IREN.EUS    PRIME. 

dcr  interest  that  now  clusters  in  the  region  of  my  heart, 
as  memory  runs  back  to  scenes  when  the  Holy  Spirit 
displayed  his  omnipotent  grace,  subduing  sinners  and 
winning  them  to  the  feet  of  Jesus.  Precious  revivals! 
come  back  and  dwell  with  the  church  forever ! 


XIII. 
PASTOR   AND    PEOPLE. 

Moral  Courage. -- Home  Revisited.  —  Independent  Men. 
—  Holy  Living. 

I  HAVE  not  half  drawn  my  father's  portrait,  nor  told 
one  of  a  thousand  incidents  that  ought  to  be 
thrown  in  to  convey  even  a  faint  idea  of  the  man  to 
those  who  know  nothing  of  him  except  what  they 
gather  from  these  sketches.  If  there  were  any  traits  of 
his  symmetrical  character  that  ought  to  be  brought  out 
in  bolder  relief  on  this  page  than  the  rest  they  were  his 
fixedness  of  purpose  in  right,  and  his  unterrified  moral 
courage.  These  features  blend  in  fine  proportions  in 
the  life  of  every  right  man,  but  they  are  worthy  of  dis- 
tinct recognition.  It  was  his  great  study  to  learn  what 
God  would  have  him  to  do  ;  in  one  word,  what  was  right ; 
for  as  he  was  always  doing  something,  he  merely  wished 
to  ascertain  what  was  right,  and  he  went  on  to  achieve 
it  as  easily  and  naturally  as  he  would  eat  to  appease 
his  hunger  or  rest  when  he  was  weary.  It  was  no  ob- 
jection to  any  line  of  policy  or  the  attempt  of  any  en- 
terprise that  the  people  would  not  like  it,  or  that  the 
world  would  oppose  it,  nor  even  that  it  would  probably 
fail  for  the  want  of  support ;  enough  for  him  that  it  was 
a  duty  to  which  he  was  called,  and  like  Luther  on  the 
way  to  Worms,  or  his  Master  on  the  way  to  crucifixion, 
he  marched  steadily  onward,  and  if  he  did  not  succeed 
he  nevertheless  had  his   reward.     Let  a  new  sect  seek 


62  SAMUEL   IKEN.KUS    PRIME. 

to  propagate  sonic  pestilent  heresy  within  the  bounds 
of  liis  parish ;  let  a  reformer,  with  zeal  and  without 
knowledge  come  and  attempt  to  sow  the  seeds  of  revo- 
lution among  the  people  ;  and  then  see  with  what  calm 
and  holy  boldness  he  would  rouse  to  the  defence  of  the 
truth,  and  how  error,  affrighted,  would  flee  away  before 
his  stern  and  manly  rebukes.  Let  vice,  under  some 
insidious  garb,  begin  to  gain  a  foothold  in  the  congre- 
gation, among  the  young  in  their  follies,  or  the  old  in 
their  pursuits  of  gain,  and  the  "  Old  White  Meeting- 
house "  was  sure  to  ring  with  righteous  denunciations  and 
the  threatened  judgment  of  an  alienated  God  before  the 
people  knew  that  the  miscliicf  had  reached  the  pas- 
tor's ear. 

Come  from  your  graves,  old  men  and  women  of  m}' 
native  parish  ;  come  stand  up  before  me  while  I  draw 
your  portraits  and  write  your  history !  But  they  come 
not.  Of  all  that  were  the  men  and  women  grown  when 
I  was  a  boy,  how  few  of  them  are  there  now !  A  few 
years  ago  I  broke  away  from  the  city  and  made  a  flying 
visit  to  the  old  town.  I  reached  there  on  Saturday. 
No  one  knew  me.  A  friend — yes,  one  whom  I  had 
grown  up  with  from  childhood,  and  knew  me  as  well  as 
an  own  brother  —  nodded  to  me  as  I  passed,  as  they  do 
to  all  strangers  in  the  country  ;  but  the  smile  of  recog- 
nition was  wanting,  and  I  felt  truly  a  stranger  in  a 
strange  land.  I  stopped  and  claimed  his  acquaintance 
without  mentioning  my  name,  and  he  looked  steadily  at 
me,  but  declared  he  had  never  seen  me  before.  Alas ! 
what  work  time  makes  with  us.  I  look  in  the  glass, 
but  can  see  Jio  change  ;  and  why  should  others  find  it 
out?     We  are  hastening  to  the  great  and  last  change. 

On    Suncla\'   I    went  to   church   in  the  new  mectincf- 


PASTOR   AND    PEOPLE.  63 

house  on  the  site  of  the  old  one,  and  what  a  change 
was  here !  The  square  pews  had  yielded  place  to  the 
modern  cushioned  slips,  the  high  pulpit,  overhung 
with  a  threatening  sounding-board,  which  I  was  always 
afraid  would  one  day  fall  and  crush  my  father  when  he 
preached  so  loud  as  to  make  it  and  me  shake,  had  been 
supplanted  by  a  railed  platform  and  desk.  But  these 
were  nothing  to  the  change  in  the  faces  of  the  people. 
Those  old  familiar  faces,  —  where  were  they?  I  looked 
here,  and  I  looked  there  and  everywhere,  but  I  found 
them  not,  and  shall  not  find  them  till  the  "  old  marble  " 
of  the  graveyard  breaks  at  the  sound  of  the  last  trump, 
and  the  tomb  resigns  its  trust.  Holy  men ;  the  salt 
of  the  earth ;  men  of  faith  and  prayer ;  men  of  God  ! 
Some  of  you  were  like  Enoch,  and  no  wonder  that  God 
took  you ;  one  was  like  Elijah,  and  went  after  him ; 
and  many  of  you  were  men  of  whom  the  world  was  not 
worthy*,  and  so  earth  lost  you  that  heaven  might  gain 
you  !  Peace  to  your  ashes  !  Oh,  that  each  of  you  had 
left  a  son  in  your  own  image  to  perpetuate  your  name 
and  your  virtues  !  Good  men  were  always  scarce,  and 
will  be  scarcer  now  that  you  are  gone. 

They  were  farmers  mostly.  They  wrought  with  their 
own  hands  in  the  fields  and  the  thrashing-floor,  and 
were  INDEPENDENT  men,  if  there  ever  were  independent 
men  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  There  was  no  river,  or 
canal,  or  railroad,  by  which  their  produce  could  be 
transported  to  market,  and  by  which  the  vices  of  the 
city  could  be  transported  to  them ;  and  thus  were  they 
saved  from  many  of  the  sources  of  corruption  that 
blight  the  villages  which  the  march  of  improvement  has 
reached.  Often  we  see  a  secluded  hamlet  where  purity 
and  peace  nestle  as  in  their  native  heaven,  till  the  rage 


64  SAMUEL   IREN.tUS    PRIME. 

of  the  times  drives  an  iron  patliway  right  through  its 
heart,  a  great  tavern  rises  by  its  side,  fashion,  folly,  and 
vice  come  along  in  the  cars  and  stop,  and  then  farewell 
to  the  quietness  and  virtue  of  that  rural  abode.  Not  so 
was  it  with  our  town.  When  the  harvest  was  gathered 
and  thrashed,  the  farmers  loaded  up  their  wagons  with 
the  great  bags,  and  drove  off  thirty  or  forty  miles  to  mar- 
ket, and  relumed  with  some  of  the  comforts  and  a  few 
of  the  luxuries  of  life,  —  the  rest  of  their  wants  being 
readih'  supplied  from  the  farm  and  the  country  store. 
Thus  were  their  days  spent  in  the  peaceful  pursuit  of 
the  most  honorable  and  worthy  calling  to  which  man 
was  appointed.  Fewer  temptations  and  more  pleasures 
cluster  around  the  path  and  home  of  the  farmer  than 
of  any  other  man.  He  is  not  free  from  the  reach  of 
sin  or  sorrow,  it  is  very  true,  and  who  is?  Adam  was 
a  farmer,  and  the  forbidden  tree  stood  in  the  middle  of 
his  garden,  and  sin  entered  and  made  his  paradise  a 
prison.  But  of  all  earthly  callings  there  is  none  in 
which  there  is  so  much  to  lead  the  soul  to  God,  to  take 
it  away  from  the  vanities  of  the  world,  to  train  the  mind 
for  communion  with  heaven,  and  prepare  it  for  un- 
broken intercourse  with  heavenly  and  divine  things,  as 
in  that  of  the  farmer,  who,  with  his  own  hands  tills  the 
field,  breaks  up  the  fallow  ground,  sows  the  seed,  prays 
and  waits  for  the  early  and  latter  rain,  watches  the 
springing  of  the  grain,  rejoices  in  the  ripening  ear, 
gathers  the  sheaves  in  his  bosom,  and  with  thankful 
heart  fills  his  storehouse  and  barn  and  sits  down  con- 
tent with  the  competent  portion  of  good  things  which 
have  fallen  to  his  lot. 


XIV. 
EARLY  TEMPERANCE  REFORM. 

Rum  and  Harvesting.  —  Drunkards  then  and  now.  — 
The  Faithful  Elder.  —  Laughing  in  Church. 

LET  us  come  back  to  our  farmers.  They  were  men 
of  principle  and  prayer.  I  will  give  an  instance 
of  the  power  of  principle  among  them.  Long,  long 
before  the  era  of  the  present  temperance  reform,  the 
minister  awoke  to  the  evils  resulting  from  the  use  of 
ardent  spirits,  even  in  an  agricultural  district  like  that 
in  which  he  lived.  The  farmers  in  those  days  were 
wont  to  purchase  their  rum  by  the  barrel,  and  to  drink 
it  freely,  not  only  without  any  apprehensions  of  its  ever 
doing  them  any  harm,  but  in  the  firm  persuasion  that 
they  could  not  do  without  it,  and  that  it  was  one  of  the 
blessings  of  Providence,  of  which  they  should  make  a 
free  use  with  thankfulness.  But  Mr.  Prime,  with  a 
long-sightedness  for  which  he  was  remarkable,  foresaw 
the  mischief  the  practice  was  begetting,  and  determined 
to  lift  up  a  standard  against  it.  Accordingly,  the  "  Old 
White  Meeting-house  "  thundered  with  an  anti-drinking 
blast,  in  which  the  evils  of  the  practice,  in  all  their 
moral,  physical,  and  social  bearings  were  set  forth  in 
words  that  fell  like  burning  coals  on  the  heart,  and 
electrified  the  congregation.  The  good  people  won- 
dered and  meditated.  There  must  be  something  in  it, 
or  he  would  not  have  brought  it  home  to  them  with 

5 


06  SAMUEL   IKEN.tUS    TRIME. 

such  pungency  and  power  They  thought  of  it  with 
earnestness.  Mr.  Prime  visited  some  of  the  largest 
farmers,  and  proposed  to  them  to  try  the  experiment 
of  "haying  and  harvesting"  one  season  without  rum. 
It  was  such  a  strange  idea  that  almost  every  one  said  it 
would  be  impossible  to  find  men  to  do  the  work,  and 
the  crops  would  rot  in  the  field ;  but  two  or  three  of 
the  best  of  them  were  induced  to  try  it.  The  result  was 
most  happy.  They  gave  the  hired  men  the  usual  cost 
of  the  rum  as  an  advance  upon  their  wages;  they  were 
perfectly  satisfied.  The  work  w^as  done  in  better  time 
and  in  better  style,  and  the  experiment  was  pronounced 
on  all  hands  successful  beyond  controversy.  The  result 
was  proclaimed  through  the  town.  The  next  year  it 
was  tried  by  several  others,  and  soon  it  became  a  gen- 
eral practice  among  the  farmers  of  that  congregation, 
although  the  date  of  the  temperance  reformation  is 
some  years  this  side  of  that  movement,  which  was  as 
decided  and  important  as  any  one  instance  of  reform 
which  has  ever  since  been  made.  Indeed,  I  have  now 
a  sermon  which  Mr.  Prime  preached  against  the  use  of 
intoxicating  drinks  from  the  text  "  Who  hath  woe," 
etc.,  and  which  was  delivered  and  printed  in  1811,  before 
I  was  born,  yet  I  can  renieinber  the  opening  of  the 
modern  temperance  reformation. 

But  there  was  very  little  intemperance  even  prior  to 
this  period.  There  were  a  few  drunkards  whose  por- 
traits I  would  add  to  these  sketches,  but  that  they  are 
very  much  like  unto  modern  drunkards,  and  their  por- 
traits are  not  very  pleasant  pictures.  There  was  not, 
liowever,  one  in  that  whole  town  so  given  to  the  use  of 
rum  as  a  man  whose  house  I  passed  yesterday,  and 
who  is  now  on  his  thirteenth  hogshead  of  rinn ;   he  is 


EARLY  TEMPERANCE  REFORM.  6/ 

seventy  years  of  age,  he  buys  his  rum  by  the  barrel 
and  drinks  steadily,  year  in  ahd  year  out,  and  hopes  to 
live  to  exhaust  some  hogsheads  more.  The  generation 
of  such  men,  we  trust  in  God,  is  rapidly  drawing  to  a 
close,  and  that  they  may  leave  no  successors  to  tread  in 
their  footsteps,  we  will  never  cease  to  pray. 

The  firmness  of  principle  which  marked  some  of 
these  men  seems  iioiu  incredible,  when  I  observe  the 
general  degeneracy  of  the  times  on  which  we  have 
fallen.  You  might  as  soon  turn  the  sun  from  its  course 
as  to  seduce  from  the  path  of  virtue  the  Roman  Fabri- 
cius,  or  Elder  Joseph  Stewart,  of  our  congregation.  In 
business  he  was  true  to  the  right,  as  the  needle  to 
the  pole;  and  when  questions  of  doubtful  propriety 
were  dividing  the  opinions  of  men,  when  you  had  found 
where  truth  and  righteousness  meet,  there  was  Joseph, 
as  calm  but  firm  as  a  rock,  or  the  angel  Abdiel,  "  faith- 
ful among  the  faithless." 

He  zvould  do  his  duty,  come  what  might.  Here  he 
had  learned  much  of  the  minister,  but  more  of  his  Bible. 
When  the  enemy  came  in  like  a  flood,  or  in  the  still, 
small  current  of  seductive  vice,  Joseph  Stewart  was  at 
his  pastor's  side,  true  as  steel,  holding  up  his  hands  like 
Aaron  or  Hur,  and  there  he  would  have  stood  in  the 
face  of  all  the  Amalekites  of  the  universe.  Such  elders 
are  rare  now.  One  Sunday  there  was  a  family  in 
church  from  the  far  city  of  New  York.  They  had  come 
up  there  to  visit  some  country  relations,  and  two  or 
three  of  these  gay  city  girls  burst  out  laughing  in  the 
midst  of  the  sermon.  The  cause  was  this.  The  old 
aunt  whom  they  had  come  to  visit  had  stopped  in  at 
one  of  the  neighbors  on  the  way  to  church,  and  had 
borrowed  some  little  yellow  cakes  called  turnpikes,  and 


6S  samui:l  iken.lls  prime. 

used,  I  believe,  for  some  purpose  or  other  in  baking 
bread.  She  had  thrust  them  into  her  work-bag,  which 
she  carried  on  her  arm,  and  during  the  sermon,  having 
occasion  to  use  her  handkerchief,  she  drew  it  forth 
suddenl)',  and  out  flew  the  turnpikes,  rolling  and  scam- 
pering over  the  floor.  The  city  girls  tittered  at  this,  as 
if  it  were  very  funn)-.  Their  seat  was  on  the  side  of  the 
pulpit  so  that  the  pastor  did  not  sec  them,  or  he  would 
have  brought  them  to  order  by  a  look,  or  a  blow  on  the 
desk,  which  would  have  sent  the  blood  out  of  their 
cheeks  though  their  cheeks  would  have  been  red  after 
that.  But  Joseph  Stewart  saw  them,  and  rising  in  his 
seat  struck  with  his  psalm-book  on  the  top  of  the  pew ; 
the  preacher  paused ;  the  congregation  sat  dumb  ;  the 
good  elder  spoke  calmly  but  with  energy:  "  TJiose 
young  women  luill  stop  that  laughing'  in  the  house  of 
God."  They  did  stop ;  the  pastor  proceeded ;  Joseph 
sat  down  and  the  city  girls  gave  no  occasion  for  the 
exercise  of  summary  church  discipline  during  the  re- 
mainder of  their  summer  visit.  The  old  aunt  was  at 
first  disposed  to  resent  the  rebuke  as  an  insult,  and  did 
complain  to  Mr.  Prime,  but  she  soon  saw  that  the  of- 
fence deserved  the  punishment,  and  she  submitted. 


XV. 

ELDERS.  AND   PEOPLE. 

An  Exciting    Incident.  —  Kirtland   Warner.  —  Abraham 
Van  Tuyl.  —  Old  Jack. 

T  AM  a  little  fearful  that  you  will  think  that  incidents 
■^  were  so  common  that  they  were  characteristic  of 
our  Sabbath  services.  Not  so.  They  were  "  few  and 
far  between,"  —  years  rolling  away,  unbroken  by  a  single 
circumstance  to  disturb  the  profound  solemnity,  the 
almost  monotony  of  sacred  worship  in  those  venerable 
walls ;  the  people  always  the  same,  the  services  al- 
ways th-e  same,  the  preaching,  the  singing  almost  always 
the  same  in  style ;  there  was  little  variety ;  and  conse- 
quently, these  incidents  occurring  in  the  lapse  of  years 
have  made  the  deeper  impression  on  my  mind.  Thus 
another  comes,  and  I  must  tell  it,  whether  or  not  in 
its  proper  place  in  the  chronicles  of  this  country 
congregation. 

There  was  among  the  people  always  at  church  an 
old  man  by  the  name  of  "  Rising."  He  was  not  a  pious 
man,  and  withal  was  very  hard  of  hearing,  so  that  hav- 
ing neither  interest  in  the  truth,  nor  the  power  to  hear 
it  with  ease,  he  went  to  meeting  from  force  of  habit, 
took  his  seat  with  his  back  to  the  minister,  and  quietly 
sinking  into  slumber,  slept  steadily  to  the  close  of  ser- 
vice. This  was  his  constant  practice.  There  was  also 
a  woman,  Mrs.  Burtis,  whose  mind  was  slightly  sprung, 


SAMUEL   IkEN/EUS    PRIME. 


and  whose  nervous  temperament  was  specially  excitable 
by  scenes  of  suffering,  whether  real  or  imaginary,  meet- 
ing her  eye  or  her  ear.     Thus  the  sight  of  a  fellow- 
being  in  circumstances  of  sudden  and  dreadful  distress 
would   throw   the   old    lady   into    fits,   when   she   would 
scream  so  terrifically  that  it  would  have  been  nothing 
strange  if  all  around  her  had  gone  into  fits  to  keep  her 
company.      She    sat    in  the    same    pew   with    old    Mr. 
Rising,  and  directly  in  front  of  him,  looking  up  to  the 
minister.     Mr.  Prime  was  describing  the  destruction  of 
Jerusalem  as  a  wonderful  example  of  the  fulfilment  of 
prophecy.     He  came  to  speak  of  the  awful  fact  that 
delicate  women  took  their  own  children  and  killed  them, 
and  cooked   them,   and    ate  them,   so   fearful    was   the 
power  of  ghastly  famine    over   all    the    strongest   and 
holiest  impulses  even  of  the  mother's  heart.     He  had 
wrought  up  the  description  with  great  skill  and  eff"ect, 
and  being  excited  with  the  theme,   he  portrayed  with 
great  pathos   and  power  the  scene  where  the  Roman 
soldiers  burst  into  a  house,   attracted  by  the  smell   of 
meat,  and  demanded  it  of  the  hands  of  the  trembling 
woman  within.     She  goes  to  the  closet  and  brings  forth 
upon  a  dish  the  fragments  of  her  half-eaten  child,  and 
places    it   before   the    horror-stricken    soldiers.       Mrs. 
Burtis  had  been  listening  with  riveted  ears  to  the  dread- 
ful tale ;   the  fire  in  her  brain  had  been  gathering  fierce- 
ness as  the  preacher  proceeded,  but  when  the  dish  with 
the  baked  babe  came  out  of  the  closet,  she  could  stand 
it   no   longer;    reason   let  go  the   reins,   and   springing 
from  her  seat,  Mrs.  Burtis  pounced  upon  old  Mr.  Rising, 
who  was  sleeping  in  front  of  her,  and  with  both  hands 
seizing  his  gra}-  locks,  she  screamed  at  the  very  top  of 
her  shrill  voice:    "  U'/icre's  the  zvovian  that  killed  my 


ELDERS   AND    PEOPLE.  7 1 

child  f  The  old  man  waked  in  amazement,  but  so 
utterly  confounded  that  although  his  hair  did  not  stand 
on  end,  for  the  very  good  reason  that  Mrs.  Burtis  held 
it  down  with  her  eagle  talons,  yet  his  "  voice  clung  to 
his  jaws."  Not  a  word  did  he  utter,  but  with  meekness 
worthy  of  the  martyrs,  he  held  his  peace  until  Joseph 
Stewart  and  Abraham  Van  Tuyl  rose,  and  disentan- 
gling her  fingers  from  the  hair,  conducted  her  quietly 
from  the  house,  and  the  preacher  went  on  with  his 
narrative. 

I  have  mentioned  the  traits  of  one  elder.  There  was 
another,  Kirtland  Warner,  a  man  of  faith  and  prayer, 
whose  life  was  the  best  of  sermons,  and  who,  being 
dead,  yet  speaks  in  the  power  of  his  memory,  which 
is  cherished  with  reverence  among  his  posterity.  He 
was  not  endowed  with  more  than  ordinary  powers  of 
mind,  but  he  read  his  Bible  much,  and  prayed  much, 
and  conversed  much  with  his  minister,  and  listened  with 
devout  attention  to  the  instructions  of  the  sanctuary,  so 
that  he  was  indeed  an  intelligent  Christian,  able  to  teach 
by  word,  as  well  as  by  the  power  of  a  godly  life.  If,  as 
sometimes  was  the  case,  Mr.  Prime  was  prevented  from 
being  with  his  people  on  the  Sabbath,  it  was  customary 
to  read  a  sermon  to  the  people.  This  was  usually  done 
by  a  worthy  lawyer,  and  then  Elder  Warner  was  called 
on  to  pray ;  and  such  was  the  respect  which  the  sincere 
and  humble  piety  of  that  good  man  commanded  that  I 
venture  to  say  the  prayers  of  the  minister  were  never 
more  acceptable  to  the  people,  or  more  efficacious  in 
the  ear  of  Heaven. 

The  greatest  funeral  which  was  ever  known  in  that 
town  was  at  the  burial  of  another  of  the  elders,  named 
after  the  father  of  the  faithful,  and  worthy  to  bear  the 


72  SA.MLEL    IKEN.l-.LS    I'RI.Mi:. 

naiiic.  lie  was  the  friend  of  God;  a  pillar  in  the 
church,  and  worth  a  score  of  the  half-dead  and  half- 
live  sort  of  Christians  which  abound  in  our  congrega- 
tions, —  dead  weights,  some  of  them,  and  others  curses. 
At  Abraham  Van  Tuyl's  funeral  there  were  miles  of 
wagons,  filled  with  people  from  all  parts  of  the  sur- 
rounding countr\',  who  had  come  to  testify  their  respect 
for  one  of  the  best  of  men.  He  was  gathered  to  his 
fathers,  but  he  left  a  son  bearing  his  name  who  was 
chosen  to  bear  also  his  office,  and  whose  wisdom  and 
piety  fitted  him  to  sustain  the  high  trust  he  received 
with  his  ascending  father's  mantle. 

These  were  leaders  in  the  church.  There  was  as 
great  a  variety  of  character  as  is  usual  in  a  country 
congregation;  but  I  want  to  tell  of  "  Old  Jack,"  a  blind 
negro,  once  a  slave,  now  free,  and  the  Lord's  freeman, 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  examples  of  the  power  of 
divine  grace  that  the  world  can  show.  He  was  small 
in  stature,  old,  hump-backed,  blind,  and  black.  After 
such  a  description,  true  to  the  letter,  it  will  hardly  be 
credited  that  he  was  a  useful  member  of  the  church, 
qualified  to  lead  in  prayer  and  to  make  a  word  of 
exhortation  to  the  edification  of  others,  and  that  his 
gifts  were  often  called  into  exercise  in  the  social  meet- 
ing. His  piety  was  deep  and  fervent,  and  his  faculties 
so  shrewd  and  strong  that  his  remarks  were  ahvays 
pointed  and  pertinent,  and  often  displayed  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  human  heart,  and  such  close  conver- 
sation with  God  as  few  of  the  most  intelligent  Christians 
enjoy. 


XVI. 
OUR  CHOIR. 

The    Village    Gossip.  —  The    Red    Tavern.  —  Deacon 
Small. —  The  Rebellion. 

I  WISH  that  you  could  see  old  Mrs.  Sniffle,  the 
gossip  of  the  congregation,  in  her  rounds  of  ab- 
sorption, fastening  herself  upon  every  one,  to  take  in, 
like  a  sponge,  whatever  they  would  impart,  that  she 
might  have  the  sweet  satisfaction  of  leaking  it  to  others. 
Her  harvest-time  was  at  the  close  of  the  morning  ser- 
vice, when  the  most  of  the  people  remained  in  their 
respective  pews  to  eat  their  dinner,  which  those  from  a 
distance  brought  with  them.  This  was  the  favorable 
moment  for  Mrs.  Sniffle's  expedition,  and  darting  out 
of  her  own  seat,  she  would  drop  in  at  another,  out  with 
her  snuff-box,  pass  it  round,  and  inquire  the  news. 
Staying  just  long  enough  to  extract  the  essence  of  all 
the  matters  in  her  line  to  be  met  with  there,  she  would 
make  all  haste  to  the  pew  of  some  one  from  another 
neighborhood,  where  she  would  impart  the  information 
she  had  just  received  with  her  own  edifying  comments, 
pick  up  as  many  additional  fragments  of  facts  as  she 
could  find,  and  pass  on  to  another  pew,  spending  the 
whole  of  the  interval  of  divine  worship  in  this  avoca- 
tion, and  the  leisure  of  the  week  to  come,  in  spreading 
among  her  neighbors  these  items  of  news,  especially 
such  as  come   under  the  head  of  scandal.     It  is  only 


74  SAMUET,   IREN-^.US    PRIME. 

just  to  the  people,  however,  to  add  that  Mrs.  Sniffle 
was  a  black  sheep  in  the  flock ;  there  was  not  another 
like  her,  and  we  may  well  say,  happy  is  that  people 
which  is  so  well  off  as  to  have  only  one  Mrs.  Sniffle. 

Take  them  in  mass  and  they  were  a  sober,  temper- 
ate, orderly,  devout  people,  delighting  in  the  ordinances 
of  God's  house,  and  striving  together  to  promote  the 
glory  of  the  Saviour.  If  you  saw  them  standing  in 
groups  around  the  door  before  the  service  began  on 
the  Sabbath-day.  it  was  not  to  trade  horses  or  talk 
politics,  as  I  have  known  the  practice  to  be  in  other 
places,  but  more  likely  it  was  to  speak  of  the  state  of 
religion  in  their  neighborhoods  or  their  hearts,  though 
the  young  and  thoughtless  doubtless  found  topics  of 
conversation  more  congenial  to  their  unsanctified  tastes. 
And  then  there  was  a  set  that  always  went  over  to  a 
little  red  tavern  across  the  green,  where  old  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Beebe  lived,  and  what  they  said  and  did  when 
they  got  there  I  will  not  undertake  to  say.  I  wish  you 
could  sec  old  Mrs.  Beebe  standing  in  the  front  door, 
with  her  hands  folded  under  her  checked  apron,  and 
her  spectacles  on  her  forehead,  chatting  with  ever)'body 
that  passed,  or  scolding  the  boys  who  loved  to  stone 
her  geese  and  sheep  which  she  pastured  on  the  green 
or  in  the  graveyard.  She  was  a  character ;  but  her 
\'irtues,  if  an}',  and  faults,  if  many,  will  be  alike  un- 
known to  future  generations,  for  her  only  chance  of 
immortality  in  history  is  while  I  am  writing  this 
paragraph. 

\Vh}'  is  it  that  the  choir  of  a  countrj-  congregation  is 
always,  or  often,  the  source  of  discord?  Every  one 
who  knows  the  internal  polity  of  these  societies  has  met 
with  the  singular  fact  that  t/tc  sing-i'jig  is  the  most  diffi- 


OUR    CHOIR.  75 

cult  subject  to  be  managed  with  harmony,  yet  a  matter 
that  one  would  think  should  never  make  any  trouble, 
much  less  be  a  cause  of  quarrels  and  divisions.  Yet 
true  it  is,  and  in  making  these  records  I  must  introduce 
the  reader  to  our  singing-schools,  and  let  him  into  some 
secrets  which  may  be  both  entertaining  and  profitable. 
You  will  therefore  understand  that  the  singing  had  be- 
come about  as  bad  as  it  could  be  and  retain  the  name. 
Deacon  Small  —  a  very  large  man,  who  could  sing 
nothing  but  bass,  and  that  very  badly  —  had  sung  tenor 
and  led  the  singing  for  ten  years,  until  forbearance 
ceased  to  be  a  virtue,  and  some  of  the  congregation, 
whose  nerves  were  not  made  of  steel  wire,  began  seri- 
ously to  talk  of  doing  something  to  improve  the  music. 
The  deacon  said  that  for  his  part  he  should  be  glad  to 
do  anything  reasonable,  and  he  had  sometimes  thought 
the  singing  would  be  better  if  the  young  folks  would 
come  together  once  a  month  or  so  and  practise  the 
tunes  with  him ;  he  would  give  his  time  for  nothing, 
and  perhaps  something  might  be  done. 

But  this  was  not  the  thing.  The  deacon's  singing 
was  as  bad  as  the  choir's,  in  fact  worse,  for  what  he 
lacked  in  skill  and  taste  he  made  up  in  volume;  and 
his  voice,  in  a  part  for  which  it  had  no  fitness,  would 
swell  above  all  the  rest  so  as  to  make  such  dire  music 
as  no  gentle  ears  could  endure  without  grievous  pain, 
causing  strong  temptations  to  feel  wrong  Qwen  in  church. 
When,  theretore,  the  reformers  heard  that  Deacon  Small 
proposed  to  drill  the  choir  into  harmony,  they  thought 
of  hanging  up  their  own  harps,  for  the  deacon's  instruc- 
tions could  manifestly  avail  nothing  but  to  make  bad 
worse.  They  therefore  held  another  consultation,  and 
determined  to  submit  the  matter  to  the  congregation, 


76  SAMUEL   IREN.^:US    PRIME. 

in  full  meeting,  and  make  a  desperate  effort  to  bring 
about  a  change. 

Accordingly,  when  the  people  assembled  for  the  an- 
nual "  letting  of  the  pews,"  the  matter  was  introduced 
with  great  caution,  and  it  was  proposed,  after  much  dis- 
cussion, to  send  to  Connecticut  (where  else  should  they 
send?)  for  a  singing-master.  Deacon  Small  was  roused. 
He  could  see  no  necessity  for  such  a  sudden  and  ex- 
pensive measure;  he  knew  as  much  about  singing  as 
any  of  them,  though  he  said  it  himself,  and  he  knew 
that  they  had  as  good  singing  as  they  could  expect, 
and  if  they  wanted  any  better  they  must  n't  go  off  to 
hire  anybody  to  come  there  and  teach  them  a  new  set 
of  tunes,  to  go  away  when  they  were  about  half  learned 
and  carry  all  the  singing  away  with  him.  But  the  re- 
formers carried  the  day,  and  next  Sabbath  the  choir, 
taking  in  dudgeon  what  they  chose  to  consider  an 
affront  put  upon  them  and  their  leader,  took  their  seats 
in  the  body  of  the  church  below,  leaving  the  front  seats 
of  the  gallery  empty.  The  pastor  saw  at  a  glance  the 
state  of  things  when  he  went  into  the  pulpit,  and  beck- 
oning to  one  of  the  elders  who  was  a  good  singer,  and 
always  led  on  communion  occasions,  to  come  up  to 
him,  he  made  the  necessary  arrangements,  and  as  soon 
as  the  morning  psalm  was  announced  the  worthy  elder 
rose  in  his  place,  and  "  pitching  the  tune,"  led  off  Old 
Hundred,  to  the  edification  of  the  congregation  and  the 
discomfiture  of  Deacon  Small,  who  thought  there  could 
be  no  sin^ine  unless  he  took  the  lead. 


XVII. 
THE   SINGING-SCHOOL. 

The  New  Teacher.  —  The  Musical  War.  —  The  Shameful 
Defeat.  —  Grieving  the  Spirit. 

BY  a  vote  of  the  congregation,  a  committee  was  ap- 
pointed to  obtain  a  singing-master  to  teach  one 
quarter,  for  which  he  was  to  receive  one  hundred  dol- 
lars, and  all  were  at  liberty  to  attend.  The  committee 
heard  of  a  teacher  and  hired  him.  He  came.  His  name 
was  Bridge.  He  was  a  good  singer,  but  a  great  fop, 
and  a  low,  ill-bred  but  cunning  fellow,  who  soon  in- 
gratiated himself  into  the  favor  of  one  part  of  the 
congregation  and  disgusted  the  rest.  The  school,  how- 
ever, was  vastly  popular,  especially  among  the  young 
people,  who  were  fond  of  coming  together  twice  a  week 
and  spending  the  evening  sociably.  Bridge  always 
gave  a  long  intermission,  which  was  the  occasion  for 
all  manner  of  fun  among  the  young  people;  and  then 
by  coming  early  and  staying  after  school  was  out,  they 
managed  to  make  the  entertainment  quite  as  diverting 
as  a  dance,  which  latter  amusement  was  rarely  allowed 
among  the  sons  and  daughters  of  that  church.  But 
before  the  quarter  was  out  the  singing-master  was  de- 
tected in  some  peccadilloes  that  rendered  his  dismission 
necessary  in  the  estimation  of  the  more  discreet  of  the 
congregation.  The  communication  of  this  decision  to 
the  school  was  the  signal  for  an   explosion.     A  part, 


78  SAMUEL    IREN.EUS    PRIME. 

perhaps  a  majority,  acquiesced  in  the  decision  and  sus- 
tained the  committee,  but  others  resented  it  and  re- 
sisted, dcclarin;:^  that  he  should  stay  and  they  would  hire 
him  for  another  quarter.  The  parties  were  now  pitted 
against  each  other,  and  for  a  long  time  the  contention 
raged  with  a  fierceness  that  threatened  the  unity  of. the 
church.  The  pastor,  of  course,  took  ground  against 
the  teacher,  for  his  moral  unfitness  to  lead  the  worship 
of  religious  people  was  apparent,  and  this  decided  stand 
of  the  pastor  brought  down  upon  his  head  the  wrath  of 
all  the  Bridge  men,  who  did  not  scruple  to  say  that  they 
would  keep  Bridge  even  if  they  lost  their  pastor. 

The  Bridge  party  circulated  a  subscription-paper,  and 
had  no  difficulty  in  raising  the  money  to  hire  the  teacher 
for  another  quarter;  for  when  men  get  mad  they  are 
always  willing  to  pay  to  have  their  own  way.  The 
elders  refused  to  have  him  in  the  choir  on  the  Sabbath 
day,  and  so  the  strange  and  disgraceful  spectacle  was 
presented  of  part  of  a  Christian  congregation  employ- 
ing a  man  to  instruct  them  in  the  worship  of  God,  while 
the  officers  of  the  church  very  properly  refused  him  a 
place  in  the  service.  And  this  wicked  war  was  pro- 
longed until  the  second  quarter  of  the  teacher  expired, 
when  he  and  his  friends  resolved  to  have  a  great  musi- 
cal festival  to  wind  oft"  with  due  honor  the  controversy 
in  which  they  flattered  themselves  they  had  been  vic- 
torious. They  wished  to  have  an  address  on  the  oc- 
casion, and  applied  to  the  pastor  to  deliver  it.  He 
answered  that  he  would  not  speak  if  Bridge  was  to  lead 
the  singing,  but  would  cheerfully  give  them  an  address 
if  some  one  else  were  selected  to  take  the  place  of  a 
man  whom  he  regarded  as  utterly  unfit  to  conduct  the 
devotions  of  God's  people.     The  answer  was  far  from 


THE    SINGING-SCHOOL.  79 

being  satisfactory.  Bridge  must  sing,  as  the  festival 
was  designed  for  his  glory.  So  the  party  cast  about  to 
find  a  speaker  for  the  great  occasion,  and  were  at  length 
successful  in  obtaining  one  in  the  person  of  a  noted 
pulpit  orator  in  a  distant  city,  deposed  from  the  minis- 
try, who  was  glad  to  make  his  way  into  another  con- 
gregation where  he  knew  he  could  never  speak  on  the 
invitation  of  the  pastor.  This  irregular  and  disgraceful 
act  of  the  Bridge  party  closed  the  campaign.  The  last 
performance  was  condemned  by  the  people,  and  the 
second  engagement  having  run  out.  Bridge  departed, 
to  find  employment  elsewhere.  The  party  that  had  sup- 
ported him  became  ashamed  of  their  own  conduct,  grad- 
ually returned  to  their  respective  duties,  said  as  little 
as  possible  about  their  late  rebellion,  and  submitted 
themselves  in  silence  to  the  constituted  authorities. 

But  it  was  not  until  after  many  years  that  the  wounds 
which  this  affair  had  made  were  healed.  The  feelins's 
of  one  part  of  the  people  were  alienated  from  the  other  ; 
the  more  serious  and  substantial  of  the  congregation 
had  opposed  the  Bridge  party,  which  was  composed  of 
the  younger  and  lighter  portion ;  the  pastor  had  been 
so  deeply  involved  in  the  struggle  that  his  preaching 
was  not  received  with  so  much  affection  and  tenderness 
by  those  from  whom  he  had  differed ;  and  it  may  be 
that  the  Word  of  God  was  not  accompanied  with  that 
spirit  of  prayer  without  which  it  can  never  be  effectual, 
and  the  day  of  final  account  can  alone  disclose  the 
extent  of  the  mischief  wrought  by  those  men  who  de- 
termined to  put  in  peril  the  peace  of  the  church  for  the 
sake  of  carrying  their  own  points. 

I  have  been  so  particular  in  stating  the  facts  in  this 
transaction  that    it  may  serve   as    a  warning  to   other 


So  SAMUEL   IREN.'EUS    PRIME. 

churches;  for  great  is  the  responsibility  incurred  by  that 
man  who  puts  himself  in  the  way  of  the  peaceful  prog- 
ress of  the  gospel.  The  Holy  Spirit  never  lingers 
among  a  people  after  strife  has  begun,  and  who  will  an- 
swer for  the  guilt  of  grieving  away  the  Messenger  of 
Heaven. 

Now  that  the  root  of  bitterness  was  cast  out,  the  good 
pastor  addressed  himself  with  all  diligence  to  repair  the 
breaches  that  had  been  made.  He  brought  the  power 
of  divine  truth  to  bear  upon  the  consciences  of  the 
congregation,  and  with  his  characteristic  fidelity,  ten- 
derness, and  skill  he  plied  them  with  those  considera- 
tions which,  in  the  course  of  time  and  under  the  blessing 
of  God,  resulted  in  the  restoration  of  peace.  Some  of 
the  most  reasonable  and  pious  of  the  Bridge  party  were 
frank  enough  to  go  to  him  and  confess  their  error,  and 
to  express  their  strong  sense  of  admiration  of  his  firm 
and  Christian  deportment  during  the  whole  affair;  but 
others  quieted  their  consciences  by  treating  their  minis- 
ter with  a  little  extra  attention,  while  they  saved  their 
pride  from  the  manliness  of  an  apology  when  they  knew 
they  were  wrong.  But  the  singing;  that  was  no  better, 
but  worse  rather.  Those  on  whom  reliance  had  long 
been  placed  as  permanent  singers  were  disgusted  and 
driven  from  the  gallery;  a  set  of  tunes  unknown  to  the 
people  was  introduced;  the  new  choir  were  unable  to 
sing  without  their  leader ;  they  soon  scattered.  Deacon 
Small  returned  to  his  post  and  rallied  a  few  of  the  old 
singers,  and  for  a  time  "  Dundee,"  and  "  Mear,"  and 
"  Wells,"  with  one  or  two  other  tunes  of  equal  claim 
to  antiquit}',  were  performed  upon  the  return  of  each 
Sabbath  with  a  regularity  and  uniformit)-  worthy  of 
striking  commendation. 


XVIII. 

SACRED   MUSIC. 

Lowell  Mason.  —  Praise  Offerings.  —  Competent  Teach- 
ing. —  Unsuitable  Leaders.  —  Acceptable  Worship. 

THE  state  of  things  which  I  have  described  lasted 
until  it  could  be  borne  no  longer.  And  I  make 
this  remark  seriously.  It  is  intolerable  that  God  should 
be  mocked  with  s\xc\\  praise  as  is  ofifered  to  him  in  some 
of  our  churches.  Not  to  say  anything  of  it  as  a  matter 
of  taste,  —  to  gratify  the  ear  of  man  and  exalt  the  affec- 
tions of  the  worshipper,  —  there  is  another  light  in  which 
it  should  be  viewed,  and  a  light  in  which  it  is  very  sel- 
dom viewed  by  our  churches.  I  refer  to  the  great 
truth  that  God  deserves  better  praise  than  he  gets  in 
those  temples  where  little  or  no  attention  is  paid  to  the 
culture  of  sacred  music.  If  that  consideration  were  im- 
printed on  the  hearts  of  Christians  they  would  from 
principle  spend  time  and  money  in  qualifying  them- 
selves and  others  to  sustain  this  part  of  public  worship 
with  "  spirit  and  understanding  also." 

Once  I  was  in  Boston,  and  on  Sabbath  morning  went 
to  the  church  where  Lowell  Mason  led  the  singing,  with 
a  choir  that  had  long  enjoyed  the  instructions  of  that 
eminent  and  able  master.  I  did  not  know  that  he  was 
the  leader,  and  was  not  prepared  to  expect  anything 
more  than  the  ordinary  singing  of  a  church  in  that  re- 
fined city.     But  those  words  :  — 

6 


82  SAMUEL    IREN.KUS    I'RIME. 

"  Welcome,  sweet  day  of  rest, 
That  saw  the  Lord  arise," 

came  over  my  soul  as  if  the  morning  stars  were  singing 
their  Maker's  praise  with  the  opening  of  another  Sab- 
bath ;  and  as  the  hymn,  sweet  in  its  own  melody,  but 
sweeter  in  the  melody  which  rich  music  lent  it,  swelled  on 
my  ear,  I  was  carried  away  by  the  power  of  the  praise, 
now  rapt  into  a  glow  of  ecstatic  feeling,  now  subdued 
by  the  melting  tones  that  fell  softly  and  sweetly  on  my 
responding  heart.  Yet  did  I  not  think  of  the  singers, 
or  the  leader,  or  the  great  organ  whose  deep  bass  rolled 
through  the  temple.  I  forgot  all  these,  and  felt  only 
that  we  were  praising  God,  in  the  beauty  of  his  Sabbath 
and  sanctuary,  and  that  He  who  delights  in  a  pure  sac- 
rifice was  receiving  a  warm  tribute  of  praise  from  that 
worshipping  people. 

"  My  willing  soul  would  stay 
In  such  a  frame  as  this, 
And  sit  and  sing  herself  away 
To  everlasting  bliss." 

Now  it  is  very  true  that  all  congregations  cannot 
have  Lowell  Mason  or  Thomas  Hastings  to  teach  them 
to  sing,  nor  is  it  needful  in  order  that  the  music  may  be 
such  as  shall  be  pleasing  to  God  and  edifying  to  the 
people.  It  requires  no  sacrifice.  The  practice  essen- 
tial to  success  in  this  delightful  art  is  itself  a  source  of 
elevated  and  rational  pleasure  to  those  engaged  in  it, 
especially  to  the  young,  and  when  the  science  has  been 
cultivated  until  skill  is  attained,  there  is  scarcely  any- 
thing that  contributes  more  to  the  harmonj-  and  happi- 
ness of  the  social  circle  than  this.  And  if  our  country 
churches  would  regard  this  department  of  public  wor- 


SACRED   MUSIC.  83 

ship  as  an  offering  to  God,  who  is  not  wilHng  to  be 
served  with  that  which  costs  nothing,  but  who  loves  to 
lend  his  ear  to  the  music  of  his  children  when  they  sing 
as  they  ought,  it  seems  to  me  that  there  would  be  a 
wonderful  change  in  the  style  of  music.  In  every 
church  there  would  be  an  association  of  those  who  have 
musical  taste  and  talent,  and  they  would  labor  diligently 
to  elevate  the  standard  of  public  sentiment  on  this  sub- 
ject, and  of  their  success  there  could  be  no  doubt. 
Pastors  have  failed  of  their  duty  in  this  matter,  for  if 
the  pulpit  had  been  faithful  in  exhibiting  the  claims  of 
this  part  of  divine  worship  upon  the  conscience  of  the 
people,  there  can  be  no  reason  to  suppose  that  it  would 
be  looked  upon  with  that  indifference  with  which  most 
of  our  churches  regard  it. 

Our  old  congregation  having  become  thoroughly  sat- 
isfied that  the  singing  must  be  improved  and  placed  on 
a  basis 'of  progressive  advancement,  sought  and  found 
another  teacher,  who,  at  the  general  desire  of  the 
people,  came  to  establish  a  school  and  lead  the  singing 
on  the  Sabbath-day.  This  time  Deacon  Small  and  all 
agreed  to  the  proposition.  The  young  people  and  some 
of  the  older  ones  attended  a  school  one  evening  every 
week  for  several  months ;  the  old  standard  tunes,  as 
"Old  Hundred,"  "St.  Thomas,"  "Tamworth,"  "Silver- 
street,"  etc.,  were  practised  over  and  over  again,  till  the 
whole  "  rising  generation  "  could  sing  them  with  pro- 
priety; a  few  new  tunes  were  learned,  and  learned  well, 
and  when  the  teacher  went  away  there  were  several  in 
the  school  who  were  well  qualified  to  take  the  lead. 
The  selection  was  made  by  the  school,  who  voted  by 
ballot;  the  elders  confirmed  the  nomination,  and  after 
that  everything  w^ent  on  smoothly.     Deacon  Small  was 


84  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS    PRIME. 

considerably  mortified  that  nobody  voted  for  him  as 
chorister,  but  he  kept  his  mortification  to  himself;  and 
each  succeeding  winter  a  school  was  opened  for  the  in- 
struction of  tiic  young  in  sacred  music,  and  no  difficulty 
was  afterward  heard  of  on  that  head.  But  there  is  reason 
for  the  question  propounded  at  the  opening  of  this 
record,  "  Why  is  the  choir  so  often  the  source  of  dis- 
cord in  the  church?  "  I  have  heard  it  said  that  singers 
are  naturally  nervous,  sensitive  people,  or  (to  go  a  little 
farther  into  the  philosophy  of  the  thing),  that  the  men- 
tal and  physical  organization  of  those  who  have  the 
faculties  essential  to  a  good  singer  is  so  delicate  that 
this  class  of  the  human  race  is  more  easily  discomposed 
by  trifles  than  any  other.  But  without  speculating 
upon  the  hidden  cause,  the  fact  is  well  known  that 
trouble  from  this  quarter  often  comes,  —  trouble  that 
the  influence  of  the  pastor  and  the  wisdom  of  the  officers 
are  sometimes  powerless  to  remove  or  relieve. 

Frequently  have  I  seen  old-established  congregations 
shaken  to  their  very  centre  by  these  musical  feuds 
when  the  matter  in  controversy  was  so  unimportant,  the 
ground  of  offence  so  puerile  that  it  can  be  recon- 
ciled neither  with  religion  nor  common-sense.  Perhaps 
some  one  of  the  singers  has  heard  somebody  say  that 
some  one  else  said  that  the  singing  was  not  as  good  as 
it  used  to  be.  This  remark,  perhaps  made  inadver- 
tently, is  repeated  and  magnified ;  the  choir  hear  of  it 
and  refuse  to  sing.  Sometimes  an  unpopular  individual 
takes  a  seat  in  the  choir,  and  the  rest  resolve  to  quit 
the  seats  unless  the  unwelcome  guest  withdraws,  and  he 
determines  to  stay  if  he  stays  alone ;  and  so  they  leave 
him  in  full  possession.  But  the  most  of  these  troubles 
grow   out    of  the    employment    of  unsuitable    men    as 


SACRED   MUSIC.  85 

leaders  of  singing  in  our  churches.  I  have  known  men 
of  notoriously  immoral  lives  to  be  appointed  to  this 
responsible  office,  and  then  most  righteously  would  the 
-sober  and  discreet  members  of  the  church  rise  in  oppo- 
sition and  refuse  to  be  led  in  their  hymns  of  praise  by 
a  man  of  profane  lips.  Here  is  no  place  to  argue  the 
question  whether  an  unconverted  person  should  ever  be 
allowed  to  lead  the  singing  in  the  house  of  God,  though 
I  cannot  avoid  entering  a  dissent  to  that  doctrine  some- 
times advocated,  that  because  you  would  not  call  on  a 
man  of  the  world  to  pray  in  public,  so  you  should  not 
invite  or  allow  him  to  sing  God's  praise  in  public. 
There  is  a  natural  distinction  in  the  two  cases  which 
can  scarcely  be  made  plainer  by  illustration.  But  it 
ought  to  be  borne  in  mind  by  all  parties,  in  every  con- 
gregation, that  the  singing  is  a  part  of  divine  worship, 
the  regulation  of  which  belongs  exclusively  to  the 
church,>or  the  spiritual  officers  of  the  church,  and  while 
the  authority  to  order  it  is  in  their  hands,  it  is  not  to  be 
expected  that  any  man  of  corrupt  life  will  be  allowed 
to  take  the  lead. 

And  if  on  them  rests  the  responsibility  of  excluding 
from  the  orchestra  those  whom  they  regard  as  unfit  to 
be  there,  most  emphatically  does  it  devolve  on  them  to 
take  measures  so  to  train  the  voices  of  the  people  that 
with  every  Sabbath's  services  there  may  go  up  to  God 
acceptable  praise  in  the  courts  of  his  house. 


XIX. 

THE   DANCING-SCHOOL. 

Congregational  Singing.  — Rural  Dancing.  — The  Grand 
Ball.  — Solemn  Dancers.  — The  Funeral  Sermon. 

MY  reminiscences  of  our  country  choir  lead  me  to 
remark  that,  rather  than  suffer  the  evils  which 
so  frequently  arise  from  the  system  of  "  choirs,"  I  would 
greatly  prefer  the  good  old-fashioned  way  of  having  a 
leader  or  precentor,  who  shall  stand  in  the  face  of  the 
congregation  and  lead  the  praises  of  the  people.  This 
plan,  which  still  prevails  in  a  few  churches  in  our  coun- 
try, and  in  many  of  the  churches  in  "  the  old  country," 
secures  several  important  ends.  It  leads  the  whole 
people  to  feel  that  they  are  to  unite  in  the  public  song ; 
that  singing  is  an  act  of  divine  worship  in  which  each 
of  them  is  expected  to  bear  a  part;  that  they  must 
qualify  themselves  and  their  children  to  perform  this 
duty  acceptably,  and  therefore  they  must  all  learn  to 
sing.  There  is  something  delightful  in  the  sight  and  the 
sound  of  a  whole  congregation  lifting  up  their  voices  in 
unison  and  harmony  in  the  praise  of  their  God  and 
King;  and  sweeter  far  to  my  ear,  and  sweeter  far,  it 
seems  to  me,  must  it  be  to  Him  who  listens  in  heaven, 
to  hear  the  warm,  full  hymn  from  the  great  congrega- 
tion than  the  most  finished  and  exquisite  performance 
of  a  worldl)'  choir,  if  the  hearf  is  not  there. 


THE   DANCING-SCHOOL.  87 

I  perceive  that  this  letter  has  taken  the  form  of  an 
essay  on  church  music  rather  than  on  ancient  history, 
as  I  proposed.  But  the  subject  suddenly  took  this 
turn,  and  has  run  to  this  point,  where  I  must  leave  it. 
And  I  would  not  leave  the  reader  with  the  impression 
that  such  troubles  as  I  have  described  were  common  in 
our  old  congregation.  The  farthest  from  it  possible. 
Years  would  roll  by  and  not  an  event  of  a  troublous 
kind  would  occur  to  make  one  year  memorable  rather 
than  another;  and  to  show  how  rare  were  such  occur- 
rences as  those  which  laid  the  foundations  of  this  letter, 
I  may  say  that  these  events  transpired  when  I  was  so 
young  as  to  know  nothing  of  what  was  going  on,  but 
they  were  talked  about  for  many  years  after,  and  I  have 
written  the  history  according  to  tradition  and  not  from 
memory.  People  would  often  speak  of  the  Bridge  ex- 
citement very  much  as  we  speak  of  the  Shays's  rebellion, 
or  the  Revolution,  —  something  that  happened  once, 
but  never  to  be  expected  again.  Probably  few  churches 
could  be  found  in  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  land 
where  there  was  more  peace  and  less  contention  than  in 
ours  during  the  ministry  of  Mr.  Prime. 

Do  you  suppose  that  they  had  dancing-schools  with- 
in the  limits  of  that  congregation?  I  am  at  a  loss  for 
an  answer  to  my  own  question,  for  if  I  have  not  men- 
tioned before  I  should  now  remark  that  there  were 
other  congregations  intermingled  with  ours,  so  that  a 
large  part  of  the  population  was  under  other  influences, 
and  there  were  families  also  that  belonged  to  no  church, 
for  whose  views  and  practices  no  one  could  answer; 
and  when  these  facts  are  remembered  it  will  not  seem 
so  strange  that  now  and  then  the  young  folks  were 
foolish  enough  to  get  up  a  dancing-school  in  the  winter. 


38  SAMUEL   IREN.IiUS    PRIME. 

Mr.  Prime  was  not  in  the  habit  of  denouncing  the 
amusement  of  dancing  as  sinful  in  itself,  or  of  threaten- 
ing church  discipline  if  any  of  the  members  indulged  in 
it.  But  he  frequently  alluded  to  it  as  an  amusement 
unsuited  to  persons  of  sense,  an  idle  waste  of  time,  and 
leading  to  evils  many  and  serious.  In  this  way  he  was 
able  to  repress  the  desire  for  a  dancing-school  among 
the  most  of  the  young,  and  the  more  intelligent  and 
pious  of  the  church  discountenanced  and  forbade  it  in 
their  families.  Once  in  a  great  while  when  the  young 
folks  went  off  for  a  sleigh-ride,  or  assembled  for  an 
evening  tea-party,  they  would  wind  up  with  a  dance, 
and  sometimes  a  "  ball  "  would  be  had  at  the  tavern  in 
front  of  the  Old  White  Meeting-house;  but  in  these 
cases  the  leaders  were  usually  young  men  from  the 
neighboring  villages,  who  had  a  sort  of  acknowledged 
right  to  set  the  fashions,  and  our  boys  and  girls  were 
not  slow  to  follow. 

One  winter  some  of  the  youngsters  determined  to 
have  a  regular  dancing-school  at  the  tavern  just  named, 
and  after  a  great  deal  of  management  they  succeeded 
in  getting  enough  to  agree  to  attend.  The  school  was 
kept  up  through  the  winter,  and  toward  spring  they 
were  to  have  a  "  public  "  or  a  grand  finale  to  their 
winter  performances.  Invitations  were  sent  to  all  the 
villages  within  twenty  miles,  for  the  fashionables  to  at- 
tend, and  every  arrangement  was  made  for  one  of  the 
most  splendid  displays  which  that  old  quiet  town  had 
ever  witnessed.  No  expense  was  spared  to  adorn  the 
room,  and  many  of  our  young  ladies,  by  dint  of  coax- 
ing and  crying,  had  obtained,  for  the  first  time  in 
their  lives,  permission  to  attend  a  ball.  Close  by  the 
tavern,    and    in    full    view   of    the    ball-room    window, 


THE   DANCING-SCHOOL.  89 

lived  one  of  the  young  ladies  who  had  in  the  early  part 
of  the  winter  been  a  member  of  the  dancing-school,  but 
who  had  been  taken  sick,  and  as  the  time  for  the  ball 
drew  nigh  she  was  evidently  drawing  nigh  to  death. 
She  died  on  the  morning  of  the  very  day  on  which  the 
ball  was  to  come  off  in  the  evening.  The  news  of  her 
death  spread  rapidly  over  the  town,  and  the  most  active 
of  the  getters-up  of  the  performance  were  in  doubt  as 
to  what  course  it  would  be  necessary  to  take.  One  of 
the  managers  was  said  to  be  betrothed  to  the  young 
lady,  a  member  of  the  school,  now  a  corpse  in  sight  of 
the  windows.  What  should  they  do?  The  managers 
met  in  the  afternoon  and  held  a  consultation.  The 
betrothed  was  not  there,  but  he  sent  word  that  there 
would  be  a  manifest  propriety  in  postponing  the  amuse- 
ments of  the  evening.  But  the  rest  demurred.  Every- 
thing is  now  ready,  all  the  expense  is  incurred  and  will 
be  doubled  if  they  defer;  the  company  will  assemble; 
and  so  it  was  decided  to  go  on.  They  did.  The  young 
ladies  came  together,  but  before  the  dancing  began  one 
of  them  was  looking  out  of  the  window  and  saw  a  dim 
light  over  in  the  chamber  of  death,  where  watchers  were 
sitting  by  the  corpse  of  one  who  had  hoped  to  be  on 
the  floor  with  them.  A  chill  came  over  the  young  lady 
as  she  was  looking  out;  she  mentioned  to  one  near  her 
what  she  had  seen,  and  how  it  made  her  feel ;  the  sad- 
ness spread  over  the  group  in  that  corner,  and  one 
began  to  complain  of  sickness  and  to  make  an  excuse 
for  going  home,  and  then  another,  till  all  whose  con- 
sciences were  any  way  tender  had  fled  from  the  hall 
of  mirth.  But  there  were  many  left.  "  On  went  the 
dance."  And  though  Death  was  at  hand,  and  one  of 
their  number  was  in  his  arms,  they  danced  till  morning. 


90  SAMUEL   IKEN.^iUS    PRIME. 

This  was  the  last  dancing-school  and  the  last  ball  for 
many,  many  years  in  that  place. 

The  next  Sabbath  Mr.  Prime  gave  them  a  discourse 
on  the  subject,  with  special  reference  to  the  events  of 
the  past  week.  It  was  the  funeral  sermon  of  Mary 
Leland ;  and  did  not  the  hearts  of  those  youth  thrill 
when  he  drew  the  contrast  between  the  chamber  of 
death  and  the  ball-room,  the  grave-clothes  and  the  ball- 
dress,  the  mourners  and  the  revellers?  And  when  he 
drew  from  that  striking  providence  a  lesson  on  the 
vanity  of  earthly  pleasures,  and  besought  the  young  of 
his  flock  to  turn  away  from  the  follies  of  time  and  be- 
come wise  for  everlasting  life,  you  might  have  seen  the 
young  men  hanging  their  heads  in  shame,  while  the 
young  ladies  all  over  the  house  were  weeping  with  grief 
that  asked  no  concealment. 


XX. 

BEGINNINGS  OF   REVIVAL. 

Household  Meetings.  — Conversion  of  Children.  — Cleri- 
cal Meetings. 

ONE  of  the  most  solemn  meetings  that  I  have  at- 
tended in  the  course  of  my  life  was  at  the  house 
of  Elder  Kirtland  Warner,  when  I  was  about  ten  years 
old.  I  was  younger  than  that,  rather  than  older,  and 
now  am  older  than  I  would  like  to  say ;  but  I  remem- 
ber that  meeting,  the  men  that  prayed,  what  they 
prayed  Tor,  Jiow  I  felt,  and  how  the  tones  of  their  voices 
fell  on  my  young  heart  like  the  voice  of  the  living  God. 
It  was  a  meeting  of  the  pastor,  the  elders,  and  all  their 
families,  with  those  parents  and  children  that  lived  near 
the  house  of  the  elder  in  which  they  met.  The  house 
was  crowded,  and  the  stairs  that  went  up  in  the  hall 
were  covered  with  children.  I  was  in  the  number  It 
seemed  that  the  pastor  had  observed  that,  through  all 
the  families  of  the  elders,  embracing  a  great  number  of 
children,  not  one  was  a  professor  of  religion.  The  fact 
was  a  painful  one,  and  the  good  man  was  alarmed.  He 
laid  the  truth  before  the  elders,  and  they  were  deeply 
moved.  They  prayed  over  it,  and  after  serious  delib- 
eration resolved  to  assemble  all  their  children  and  com- 
mend them  unitedly  and  affectionately  to  Him  who  had 
promised  to  be  a  God  to  them  and  to  theirs. 


92  .SAMLL;!.    IREN.tUS    TRIME. 

The  meeting  was  held  as  I  have  said.  And  when 
Mr.  Prime  .stated  the  solemn  fact  that  had  called  them 
together,  there  was  a  stillness  like  death  over  the  house, 
and  as  he  went  on  to  speak  of  the  prospect  before  the 
church  when  the  young  were  thus  growing  up  in  sin, 
and  the  prospect  before  the  young  when  they  were  thus 
hardening  their  hearts  under  religious  instruction  and 
in  the  midst  of  the  gospel,  you  might  hear  a  deep  sigh 
from  the  hearts  of  the  fathers,  and  see  the  tears  on  the 
cheeks  of  the  mothers,  and  soon  the  children  caught 
the  impression  of  the  hour,  and  sobbed  in  the  grief  of 
their  souls  at  the  thought  of  coming  judgment  and  no 
preparation  to  meet  an  offended  Judge !  The  pastor 
prayed,  and  one  after  another  of  those  elders  —  mighty 
men  in  prayer  they  were  —  went  down  on  their  knees, 
and  with  earnestness  that  would  take  no  denial,  and 
with  such  strong  crying  and  tears  as  parents  only  know 
when  pleading  for  their  perishing  offspring,  they  be- 
sought the  Lord  to  have  mercy  on  them  and  save 
them  by  his  grace.  And  then  they  sung  psalms,  Elder 
Tompkins  leading,  and  such  of  the  company  joining  as 
could  command  their  voices  in  the  midst  of  the  deep 
emotion  that  was  now  pervading  all  hearts.  I  know 
the  Holy  Spirit  was  there  that  day.  I  felt  his  convict- 
ing power.  I  feel  the  force  of  the  impressions  then 
made  this  moment.  It  was  not  then  that  I  was  led  to 
the  Saviour.  But  afterward  when  the  allurements  of  a 
gay  world  were  around  me,  and  a  thousand  influences 
combined  to  draw  me  down  to  ruin,  the  impressions  of 
that  meeting,  and  such  meetings,  were  like  hooks  of 
steel  to  hold  mc  out  of  hell.  God  be  praised  that  I  was 
there,  and  I  hope  to  praise  him  for  the  privilege  when 
I   meet  those  elders  with  the   other  ciders  around  the 


BEGINNINGS   OF   REVIVAL.  93 

throne.  There  were  many  children  present  older  than 
myself,  and  they,  too,  were  much  afifected  by  the  exer- 
cises. I  recollect  that  we  were  out  of  doors  at  the  in- 
termission (for  we  met  at  eleven  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing, and  with  an  interval  of  half  an  hour  remained  until 
three  P.  M.),  and  then  we  had  an  opportunity  to  talk 
the  matter  over  together.  We  were  all  solemn;  not 
one  was  disposed  to  play  or  to  make  fun  of  any  kind, 
but  we  said  to  one  another  in  our  own  way  that  we 
meant  to  try  and  be  good.  Some  of  the  girls  got  to- 
gether in  one  of  the  bedrooms  upstairs  and  had  a  little 
prayer-meeting  by  themselves  during  the  intermission ; 
and  all  went  from  that  place  that  day  with  serious 
minds,  and  some  were  pricked  to  the  heart. 

Another  meeting  of  the  same  character  was  held  the 
next  week  in  the  house  of  an  elder  in  another  part  of 
the  congregation,  and  so  they  were  continued  from 
house  to  house  for  three  months.  And  God  heard  the 
prayers  of  his  people.  Three  of  the  children  of  Joseph 
Stewart  were  converted  immediately,  and  are  living  now 
to  bless  God  for  those  meetings ;  and  three  children  of 
another  elder  were  also  converted,  and  some  of  the 
others,  and  the  good  work  extended  beyond  the  fami- 
lies of  the  elders  into  the  congregation,  and  many  pre- 
cious souls  were  brought  into  the  fold  of  Christ. 

I  would  like  to  go  back  to  one  great  revival  that  per- 
vaded the  congregation,  bringing  the  whole  town  under 
its  influence,  and  from  the  commencement,  progress, 
and  fruits  of  it,  show  what  old-fashioned  revivals  were, 
and  what  revivals  the  churches  need  now.  May  God 
send  them  often,  and  mighty  ones,  till  the  day  of  final 
consummation ! 

The   pastor  had   been  long  lamenting  the   apparent 


94  SAMUEL   IREN.KLS    PRIME. 

withdrawal  of  the  Holy  Spirit  from  the  church.  His 
ministry  did  not  seem  to  be  blessed  to  the  conviction 
and  conversion  of  sinners,  and  his  hands  began  to  hang 
down  in  discouragement.  Perhaps  his  own  soul  had 
partaken  of  the  general  apathy,  and  his  preaching  had 
been  less  pungent,  his  prayers  less  fervent  and  faithful, 
and  his  anxieties  had  subsided.  As  the  hands  of  Moses 
sunk  unless  they  were  held  up  by  Aaron  and  Hur,  so 
did  his.  About  this  time  he  was  called  to  attend  a 
great  ecclesiastical  meeting  in  a  distant  part  of  the 
country.  He  was  necessarily  absent  several  weeks. 
During  his  absence  the  people  met  regularly  on  the 
Sabbath  day  to  hear  a  sermon  which  was  read  by  one 
of  their  own  number,  and  to  pray  for  themselves  and 
their  beloved  pastor  far  away.  They  did  not  run  to 
other  churches  to  hear  other  ministers,  but  hovered 
around  their  own  altar  and  enjoyed  themselves  tJiere 
far  more  than  in  strange  temples.  This  gives  a  hint 
worth  remembering.  Mr.  Prime  was  also  benefited  by 
his  intercourse  with  ministerial  brethren  whom  he  met 
at  the  assembly  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  Fifty 
years  ago  our  ecclesiastical  assemblies  were  more  spirit- 
tial  than  tlicy  are  now ;  they  were  less  divided  by  the 
introduction  of  exciting  party  questions,  and  ministers 
came  together  as  so  many  brothers  of  one  family,  run- 
ning into  one  another's  arms  after  a  long  separation. 
We  sometimes  had  such  meetings  on  a  small  scale  up  in 
the  old  congregation ;  the  ministers  from  neighboring 
churches  would  assemble  to  transact  church  business; 
and  it  was  all  done  with  such  a  spirit  of  harmony  and 
brotherly  love,  and  so  much  time  would  be  spent  in 
preaching  and  praying  that  a  hallowed  influence  always 
was  exerted  by  them  on  the  people.     And  as  the  minis- 


BEGINNINGS   OF   REVIVAL.  95 

ters  quartered  at  different  houses  during  the  meeting, 
they  conversed  freely  and  faithfully  with  parents  and 
children  on  the  concerns  of  their  souls,  and  lasting  and 
saving  impressions  were  thus  made  on  many  minds. 
So  it  was,  in  a  still  higher  degree  and  in  a  more  ex- 
tended circle,  when  the  great  assembly  of  ministers 
from  widely  distant  places  was  convened.  Its  sessions 
were  expected  with  intense  interest,  as  holy  convoca- 
tions of  holy  men  ;  it  was  attended  with  demonstrations 
of  strong  fraternal  regard,  and  so  many  tokens  of  the 
divine  favor  that  the  annual  meeting  was  a  precious 
season  to  all  who  were  permitted  to  enjoy  its  delightful 
influence.  The  results  I  shall  refer  to  in  my  next 
letter. 


XXI. 

HINDRANCES  TO   REVIVAL. 

The    Gospel    Call.  —  Powkk    ok    Pravek.  —  "Fourth    of 
July  '"   Ball.  —  The    Prayer-Meeting. 

FROM  such  a  meeting  as  I  have  described,  Mr. 
Prime  returned  to  his  scattered  flock  and  se- 
cluded parish.  His  own  soul  had  been  refreshed  and 
quickened.  He  had  heard  of  the  power  of  the  gospel 
in  other  parts  of  the  land ;  of  great  revivals  of  religion, 
such  as  he  longed  to  see  among  his  own  people;  he 
had  been  roused  by  the  exhibitions  of  zeal  among  his 
brethren,  and  had  been  impressed  more  deeply,  per- 
haps, than  ever  that  each  pastor  is  responsible  for  the 
improvement  of  his  own  vineyard.  He  came  home 
with  a  firm  determination,  relying  on  the  strong  arm  of 
sovereign  grace,  to  deliver  his  own  soul  from  the  blood 
of  his  people  by  doing  his  whole  duty  in  the  fear  of 
God.  He  was  not  a  man  of  impulse,  and  when  he  took 
a  resolution  like  the  one  just  named,  it  was  a  principle 
in  the  framework  of  his  soul,  to  be  developed  steadily 
and  totall}'  until  all  its  meaning  and  power  were  an- 
swered. He  would  do  what  duty  had  bade  him,  and  if 
sinners  were  saved  and  saints  edified,  he  would  rejoice 
and  give  God  the  praise;  if  liis  labors  were  vain  and 
the  seed  never  bore  fruit  he  would  still  be  clear,  and 
God  should  accomplish  his  own  righteous  will.  He 
now    entered    upon    a    thorough    exhibition    of    divine 


HINDRANCES   TO    REVIVAL.  97 

truth  in  a  light  more  vivid  and  in  a  style  more  pungent 
and  convincing  than  he  had  ever  preached  before.  He 
took  the  law  of  God  and  held  up  its  majesty  and  purity 
with  a  grandeur  that  startled  the  hearer,  as  if  the  distant 
thunder  of  Sinai  were  breaking  on  his  trembling  ear. 
Perhaps  his  forte  was  to  take  what  we  call  tJie  strong 
truths  of  the  gospel,  and  present  them  before  the  mind 
with  such  transparent  clearness  that  men  could  not  shut 
their  eyes  against  the  convictions  thus  brought  home 
to  their  hearts.  When  he  had  pressed  on  them  the 
claims  of  the  divine  law,  its  high  requisitions,  its  ex- 
ceeding breadth  and  strength,  which  no  man  since  the 
fall  of  Adam  had  fully  met  and  answered,  he  then  set 
forth  the  utter  helplessness  of  self-ruined  man  without 
the  interposition  of  divine  recovering  grace.  Then 
came  the  duty  of  the  sinner  to  repent  and  turn  to  God, 
and  the  rich  provisions  of  salvation  in  the  full  and 
glorious  atonement  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ !  I  wish 
that  you  could  have  heard  him  on  these  themes  at  this 
period  of  his  ministry.  He  was  in  the  very  acme  of  his 
physical  and  mental  powers,  his  soul  roused  by  com- 
munion with  kindred  souls  and  with  God,  while  the 
souls  of  his  people  were  before  him  as  priceless,  yet 
perishing  treasures,  for  whose  salvation  he  must  labor 
and  give  account.  Oh,  how  the  gospel  shook  the  walls 
of  the  Old  White  Meeting-house  when  he  opened  the 
terrors  of  the  law  to  persuade  men  to  flee  from  the 
wrath  to  come,  or  hung  out  the  love  of  a  crucified 
Redeemer  to  win  the  wandering  back  to  the  foot  of  the 
cross !  Often  do  I  seem  to  hear  those  calls,  as  if  time 
had  travelled  back,  and  I  were  again  sitting  under  the 
old  high  pulpit  listening  to  the  trumpet-voice  of  my 

father. 

7 


98  SAMUEL   IREN^US    PRIME. 

Such  preaching,  joined  with  prayer,  for  he  was  a  man 
of  prayer,  could  not  be  in  vain.  It  was  followed  up 
with  judicious  and  efficient  means  to  awaken  general 
attention  among  the  people.  Prayer-meetings  were  es- 
tablished, if  not  already  in  operation,  in  all  the  neigh- 
borhoods. The  ciders  met  often  with  the  pastor  for 
private  supplication  at  the  throne  of  grace,  and  from 
house  to  house  they  went,  two  and  two,  warning  and 
entreating  men  to  turn  unto  God.  Soon  the  eff^ects 
became  visible.  The  house  of  God  on  the  Sabbath  day 
was  solemn  as  eternity.  The  evening  meetings  were 
attended  by  greater  numbers  than  before,  and  a  spirit 
of  prayer  was  evidently  poured  out  upon  those  who 
met.  Here  and  there  a  sinner  was  awakened  and  came 
to  the  pastor  to  learn  what  to  do  to  be  saved. 

The  Devil  saw  it  and  trembled.  He  knew  that  his 
power  was  in  danger,  and  resolved  to  have  a  fight 
before  he  gave  up.  His  first  attempt  was  a  cunning 
stratagem  to  lure  the  young  away  from  serious  things 
by  stirring  them  up  to  the  vanities  of  the  world.  The 
"  Fourth  of  July"  was  just  at  hand,  and  the  Devil  put 
it  into  the  hearts  of  the  young  to  get  up  a  grand  "  ball " 
to  be  held  in  the  tavern  that  stood  across  the  green 
directly  in  front  of  the  meeting-house.  This  was  a 
masterly  stroke  of  policy.  A  ball  was  a  novelty  almost 
unheard  of  in  that  place;  and  at  that  season  of  the  year 
it  was  altogether  a  singular  aff*air.  But  with  the  aid  of 
some  blades  from  distant  villages  the  arrangements 
were  made  in  spite  of  the  remonstrances,  and  even  the 
entreaties  of  the  pious  portion  of  the  people.  Some  of 
the  daughters  of  church  members  were  so  much  elated 
with  the  idea  of  going  to  a  ball  that  no  means  short  of 
compulsion  would  avail  to  deter  them.      Mr.  Prime,  true 


HINDRANCES   TO    REVIVAL.  99 

to  his  office,  on  the  Sabbath  before  it  was  to  come  off, 
having  failed  by  private  counsel  to  break  it  up,  went 
into  his  pulpit  girt  with  the  armor  of  God,  and  there 
denounced  the  intended  dance  as  a  bold  and  damnable 
device  of  Satan  to  resist  and  quench  the  Holy  Spirit 
that  in  great  mercy  had  at  last  come  down  among  them 
on  a  visit  of  salvation.  He  warned  the  young  of  the 
desperate  game  they  were  playing,  of  the  madness  of 
rushing  against  the  thick  bosses  of  Jehovah's  buckler, 
and  of  the  peril  in  which  they  put  their  immortal  souls 
by  engaging  in  worldly  amusements  with  the  avowed 
design  of  dissipating  religious  impressions,  whose  pres- 
ence they  could  not  deny.  This  note  of  alarm  had  the 
desired  effect  upon  some  of  the  more  conscientious,  but 
the  most  of  them  had  gone  so  far  in  the  arrangements 
that  they  were  not  willing  to  give  it  up.  So  Mr.  Prime 
had  supposed ;  and,  therefore,  in  anticipation  of  just 
this  restilt,  at  the  close  of  his  sermon  he  gave  notice 
that  the  church  would  be  open  for  public  prayer  in  be- 
half of  the  "  ball,"  the  meeting  for  prayer  to  commence 
at  the  time  set  for  the  "  ball "  to  begin. 

Was  there  ever  such  a  thing  heard  of  since  dancing 
was  invented?  Who  but  Mr.  Prime  would  have  thought 
of  a  prayer-meeting  for  a  "  ball  "  ?  And  both  meetings 
were  held ;  the  praying  people,  fathers,  and  mothers, 
and  many  of  their  children  with  them,  came  to  the 
meeting-house,  and  (it  being  in  July)  the  doors  and 
windows  were  wide  open  while  they  sang  and  prayed, 
and  within  hearing  the  young  folks  assembled  in  the 
ball-room,  and  to  the  sound  of  the  fiddle  danced  while 
the  church  prayed.  The  solemn  psalm  was  heard  in 
the  ball-room,  and  the  screech  of  the  fiddle  crossed  the 
green  and  grated  on  the  ears  of  the  worshippers  of  God 


lOO  SAMUEL  IREN.€US   PRIME. 

in  his  sacred  courts.  But  the  ball  broke  down.  It  was 
hot  work  to  dance  in  hot  weather,  with  the  fire  of  a 
guilty  conscience  burning  like  hell  in  the  breast.  It  is 
a  fact  that  some  of  the  company  were  convicted  of  sin 
on  the  floor  that  very  day,  and  were  afterward  added 
to  the  church.  One  of  them  said  he  felt,  when  he  tried 
to  dance,  as  if  his  heels  were  made  of  lead.  He  had  no 
heart  for  it.  The  revival  went  on  gloriously,  and  the 
Devil  determined  to  try  again. 


XXII. 

FIGHTING   THE   REVIVAL. 

The  Horse-Race. —  Thunder  of  the  Pulpit.  —  Lightning 
OF  THE  Law.  —  Meetings  and  Visits. 

THE  next  demonstration  against  the  revival  in  our 
church  was  in  the  form  of  a  horse-race,  and  it  is 
not  strange  that  under  these  circumstances  the  move- 
ment was  attributed  to  the  Evil  One.  This  is  a  sport 
pecuharly  his  own.  In  it  and  about  it  there  is  so  much 
of  his  spirit  and  Jiis  work  that  any  one  might  know  that 
the  Hfe-giving  genius  of  the  whole  thing  belongs  of 
natural  right  to  the  Devil.  There  was  a  cluster  of 
houses  around  the  meeting-house,  and  another  half  a 
mile  from  it  on  each  side,  and  the  ground  a  dead  level 
between,  and  this  was  the  arena  selected  by  a  set  of 
devil-inspired  men  for  a  horse-race.  In  a  quiet  com- 
munity like  ours,  an  operation  of  this  kind  could  not 
fail  to  set  the  whole  mass  in  commotion.  It  was  very 
rare  that  in  any  part  of  the  town  the  thing  was  at- 
tempted, but  to  try  it  in  the  very  heart  of  the  place,  in 
the  public  street,  in  front  of  the  church,  was  monstrous, 
and  it  seems  incredible  that  men  could  be  found  with 
hardihood  enough  to  undertake  it.  When  Mr.  Prime 
saw  the  handbills  posted  up  in  the  streets  announcing 
the  race  to  come  off  the  next  week,  he  called  on  two  or 
three  leading  men  to  engage  them  in  the  necessary  steps 
to  prevent  the  projected  outrage.    But,  as  if  to  show  how 


I02  SAMUEL   IRENiiiUS    PRIME. 

successfully  the  Evil  One  does  sometimes  manage  his 
plots,  these  men,  who  were  usually  as  bold  as  a  lion, 
now  frankly  said  that  they  could  do  nothing;  people 
would  race  horses,  and  perhaps  it  was  best  to  let  them 
have  their  own  way.  There  was  only  one  way  to  stop 
them,  and  that  was  to  threaten  legal  prosecution,  as  it 
was  against  the  law,  and  this  might  only  make  the 
matter  worse.  Mr.  Prime's  holy  soul  was  moved  with 
righteous  indignation.  To  be  deserted  at  such  a  crisis 
by  those  on  whom  he  was  wont  to  rely  was  a  blow  he 
had  not  expected,  and  he  took  his  own  measures  ac- 
cordingly. He  went  to  his  pulpit  the  next  Sabbath 
and  announced  his  text,  "  When  the  enemy  comcth  in 
like  a  flood  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  shall  lift  up  a  stand- 
ard against  him."  In  words  of  fire  he  warned  his  peo- 
ple of  the  flood  of  vice  which  was  coming  in  during  the 
week  before  them,  and  having  stated  what  unsuccessful 
steps  he  had  taken  to  put  a  stop  to  it,  he  entered  his 
solemn  and  public  protest  against  it  in  the  presence  of 
God,  and  threw  the  responsibility  on  the  heads  of  those 
who,  holding  the  power  to  administer  the  law,  had  de- 
termined to  sit  still  and  see  it  trampled  upon  by  a  crew 
of  lawless  men.  This  was  the  standard  which  the  Spirit 
of  the  Lord  raised  up  to  meet  the  emergency.  The 
people  were  struck  with  the  words  of  power  and  truth, 
as  well  as  with  the  holy  boldness  that  clothed  the 
preacher's  brow,  as  he  portrayed  the  impending  evil, 
and  their  consciences  smote  them  that  they  had  been 
so  quiet  while  the  storm  had  been  gathering.  At  the 
close  of  divine  service  'Squire  Wendell,  the  "  Old  Law- 
yer," as  he  was  called,  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  in- 
fluential of  the  people,  rose  in  his  pew  and  asked  the 
heads  of  the  congregation  to  remain  for  a  few  minutes 


FIGHTING  THE   REVIVAL.  I03 

while  they  considered  their  duty  in  view  of  the  truth  to 
which  they  had  just  hstened.  A  resolution  was  then 
introduced  by  him  and  unanimously  adopted,  appoint- 
ing a  committee  to  prosecute  to  the  extremity  of  the 
law  all  persons  who  should  engage  in  the  proposed 
races,  and  denouncing  the  practice  as  one  which  no 
good  citizen  or  Christian  would  uphold.  That  was  an 
end  of  the  horse-race.  Mr.  Prime  broke  that  up  effect- 
ually. The  managers  heard  of  the  determined  meas- 
ures that  had  been  adopted,  and  very  wisely  postponed 
the  race  on  account  of  the  lameness  of  one  of  the  horses 
that  never  got  well  enough  to  run  in  that  neighborhood. 
The  revival  went  on. 

There  were  many  things  about  that  revival  which  I 
remember  with  peculiar  interest,  but  which  will  not 
strike  the  reader  as  peculiar.  The  stillness  of  the  even- 
ing meetings  was  most  remarkable.  These  were  held  in 
the  district  school-houses,  and  being  conducted  chiefly 
by  the  elders,  consisted  almost  entirely  of  singing  and 
fervent  prayer.  There  was  no  irregularity,  no  noise, 
seldom  a  sob,  sometimes  a  deep  sigh  that  might  be 
heard  over  the  whole  house,  but  there  were  at  all  times 
such  tokens  of  Divine  power  as  could  not  be  mistaken 
or  evaded.  And  when  the  hour  was  spent  the  people 
seemed  unwilling  to  go,  and  would  still  sit  on  the  seats, 
and  converse  with  each  other  on  the  state  of  religion  in 
their  own  souls,  and  sometimes  they  would  pray  to- 
gether again,  or  some  one  would  strike  up  a  tune  with 
some  favorite  hymn,  as  — 

"  Jesus  !  and  shall  it  ever  be, 
A  mortal  man  ashamed  of  thee  ?  " 

and  then  the  meeting  would  seem  to  be  begun  again. 
We  had  no  "  anxious  seats,"  but  the  pastor  urged  all 


I04  SAMUEL   IREN^US   PRIME. 

those  who  wished  to  have  conversation  on  the  subject 
of  religion  to  visit  him  at  his  study,  or  to  call  on  any  of 
the  elders;  and  he  spent  as  much  time  as  he  could  in 
going  from  house  to  house  instructing  the  young,  di- 
recting the  inquiring,  examining  the  grounds  on  which 
the  new  converts  were  resting  their  trembling  hopes, 
and  exhorting  the  careless  to  awaken  from  their  stupid- 
ity and  ici\-  hold  on  eternal  life.  In  labors  he  was  abun- 
dant. But  no  labor  was  too  great  for  him  if  thereby  he 
might  save  the  souls  of  his  people.  And  the  Spirit  of 
the  Lord  seemed  to  be  on  him  and  with  him,  so  that 
his  words  were  set  home  upon  the  conscience  with  a 
cogency  that  impelled  conviction,  and  made  any  open 
resistance  useless.  The  deep  depravity  of  the  human 
heart  was  in  the  way,  and  Mr.  Prime  was  as  powerless 
to  deal  with  that  as  a  child.  But  he  dealt  out  the 
potent  truth,  and  the  ornjiipotetit  Spirit  did  the  rest. 
Sinners  were  slain  and  made  alive,  and  there  was  joy  in 
heaven  over  repenting  souls. 


XXIII. 
THE    REVIVAL  WORK. 

Its    Thoroughness.  —  The    Stubborn    Heart.  —  Blessed 
Reminiscences.  —  How  to  win  Souls. 

I  DO  not  know  the  reason,  perhaps  others  can  ac- 
count for  it,  though  I  only  know  the  fact  that  in 
the  revivals  of  fifty  years  ago  conversions  were  not  so 
sudden  as  they  now  are.  It  was  no  unusual  thing  for  a 
person  to  go  six  weeks,  and  sometimes  even  six  months, 
under  deep  conviction  of  sin  ;  and  it  was  not  considered 
strange,  though  at  present  we  should  give  a  man  up 
almost'  as  a  hopeless  case  who  should  resist  serious 
impressions  so  long  as  that.  Perhaps  the  mode  of  in- 
structing awakened  sinners  is  more  philosophical  now 
than  itAvas  then  —  I  do  not  believe  it  is  more  scriptural 
—  and  they  may  be  led  more  directly  to  the  contempla- 
tion of  those  classes  of  truth  w^iich  demand  the  entire 
acquiescence  of  the  heart  in  the  act  of  submission  to 
God.  But  one  thing  is  quite  as  certain,  and  that  is, 
there  were  fewer  spurious  conversions  then  than  now; 
and  our  modern  revivals  are  to  be  tested  as  to  their 
comparative  value  by  this  as  well  as  other  facts.  Where 
the  instruction  given  to  the  awakened  is  evangelical  and 
sound,  calculated  to  lead  the  sinner  to  look  well  to  the 
ground  on  which  he  rests  his  soul,  and  to  make  sure  work 
for  eternity,  few  cases  of  "  falling  away  "  occur  when  the 
revival  subsides.     But  in  those  excitements  where  sin- 


I06  SAMUEL    IKENVEUS    I'KIME. 

ncrs  arc  told  to  submit,  and  as  soon  as  they  say  they 
are  willing,  are  assured  that  they  are  converted,  as  it  is 
often  the  case,  it  is  to  be  expected  that  many  will  de- 
ceive themselves,  and  by-and-by  will  manifest  their 
mistake  to  the  grief  of  the  church  and  the  shame  of  the 
cause. 

This  revival  began  in  the  heart  of  Mr.  Prime,  and 
spread  gradually  but  widely  among  the  hearts  of  his 
whole  people.  The  most  remote  hamlets  of  the  con- 
gregation, some  of  them  lying  twelve  miles  apart,  and 
six  from  the  church,  were  pervaded  by  the  power  of 
the  Holy  One,  and  many  a  humble  home  was  made 
joyful  with  the  songs  of  new-born  souls.  It  was  con- 
fined to  no  age.  The  young  were  the  most  frequent 
subjects,  for  there  were  few  hearers  who  had  grown  old 
in  sin.  But  many  young  heads  of  families  were  brought 
in  who  immediately  erected  the  family  altar,  and  as 
long  as  the}'  lived  were  consistent  and  active  Christians. 
One  or  two  gray-headed  men  who  had  stood  for  years 
as  monuments  of  sparing  mercy  were  now  made  monu- 
ments of  sovereign  grace,  rescued  at  the  eleventh  hour 
from  the  verge  of  ruin. 

A  stout-hearted  and  stout-bodied  farmer  who  had 
reached  the  half-way  house  of  life  was  convicted  of  sin. 
He  had  been  a  pattern  of  moralit}'  in  the  world,  and  no 
man  could  say  that  Mr.  McAlley  was  ever  known  to  do 
that  which  was  wrong  to  a  neighbor.  But  he  had  in 
his  breast  a  wicked  heart  of  unbelief;  and  when  the 
Holy  Spirit  touched  that  heart,  Mr.  M.  felt  that  he 
was  a  sinner  and  must  be  born  again.  At  first  he  tried 
to  build  a  hope  of  final  salvation  on  the  moral  life  he 
had  led,  and  the  many  good  things  Jie  had  done  for  the 
church.     And  no  one  was  more  liberal  to  support  the 


THE   REVIVAL   WORK.  lO/ 

gospel  and  to  contribute  to  every  charitable  object  than 
he;  but  what  were  these  things  to  quiet  a  conscience 
that  God  had  roused,  and  to  save  from  hell  that  God 
had  threatened  to  all  who  do  not  repent  and  believe. 
The  stricken  sinner  turned  with  disgust  from  his  own 
righteousness,  and  sought  the  Saviour  as  the  only 
ground  of  hope.  He  went  to  his  pastor  for  advice  in 
this  hour  of  deep  distress,  and  was  told  to  repent  and 
believe  in  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  went  away  and 
came  again.  Again  he  received  the  same  counsel, 
and  Mr.  Prime  prayed  with  him,  and  endeavored  to 
convince  him  that  he  was  resisting  the  Holy  Spirit, 
refusing  to  submit  to  the  humbling  terms  of  the  gospel, 
and  to  accept  salvation  as  the  free  gift  of  God.  Mr. 
McAlley  would  not  believe  that  he  was  thus  proud  and 
rebellious,  but  declared  again  and  again  that  he  was 
willing  to  do  anytJimg  in  the  world  if  God  would  only 
have  mercy  on  him.  Thus  he  was  flying  back  to  his 
own  works  all  the  while,  and  trying  to  work  out  a  plan 
of  his  own  that  would  answer  instead  of  that  plan  which 
strips  the  sinner  of  his  own  merit,  and  lays  him  a  help- 
less beggar  at  the  footstool  of  sovereign  mercy.  One 
Sabbath-day,  after  he  had  been  under  conviction  for 
some  months,  he  followed  Mr.  Prime  home  from  church, 
and  entered  just  as  the  good  pastor,  exhausted  with 
his  arduous  labors,  had  thrown  himself  into  his  great 
arm-chair.     Mr.  McAlley  began  :  — 

"  Well,  Mr.  Prime,  I  'm  pretty  much  discouraged.  I 
have  tried  to  do  what  you  have  told  me ;  I  have  prayed 
and  prayed,  and  tried  to  repent  and  believe,  and  I  do 
not  see  that  I  can  do  anything  more." 

The  kind-hearted  pastor  looked  up  at  him  as  the 
farmer  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  study,  and  said :  — 


108  SAMUEL  IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

"  Oh,  }'cs,  there  is  one  thing  more  )'ou  can  do ;  you 
can  go  down  to  ruin  with  your  sins  on  your  soul." 

The  farmer's  spirit  was  broken  by  that  sudden  and 
awful  thought.  Was  it  true  that  nothing  remained  for 
him  but  a  fearful  looking  for  judgment  and  fiery  indig- 
nation? Mad  he  sinned  away  his  day  of  grace,  grieved 
the  Holy  Spirit,  and  made  his  own  destruction  sure? 
Jle  turned  awa)'  in  silence,  and  with  a  crushed  heart 
left  the  pastor's  house  for  his  own.  He  had  some  miles 
to  go,  and  it  was  in  the  cool  of  a  summer  Sabbath. 
On  his  way  homeward  he  was  enabled  to  yield  his 
proud  spirit  to  the  gentle  reign  of  Jesus,  and  to  embrace 
the  Saviour  in  his  beauty  and  love.  From  that  Sab- 
bath he  was  one  of  the  most  exemplary  Christians  in 
that  congregation.  Some  years  afterward  he  was  chosen 
an  elder  in  the  church,  which  office  he  adorned  until  he 
was  translated  to  a  higher  service. 

Several  other  instances  to  illustrate  the  pastor's  skill 
in  dealing  with  inquiring  sinners,  but  more  to  magnify 
the  riches  of  God's  grace,  occur  to  me;  but  I  have 
made  this  narrative  already  too  long.  Yet  it  is  well,  it 
is  instructive  to  recall  those  seasons  of  revival  when  the 
whole  congregation,  from  the  centre  to  its  wide  circum- 
ference, was  shaken  by  the  power  of  the  Spirit ;  when 
every  house  was  filled  with  the  influences  of  the  work, 
and  many  were  brought  out  of  darkness  into  the  gos- 
pel's marvellous  light.  Revivals  have  since  been  en- 
joyed in  the  same  congregation,  but  the  one  to  which  I 
have  referred  was  the  most  pervading  and  powerful,  and 
its  fruits  were  the  most  permanent. 

This  is  no  place,  even  if  I  had  time,  to  speak  of  the 
means  to  be  employed  in  the  promotion  of  pure  and 
undefilcd   revivals  of  religion.     But  the   experience   of 


THE   REVIVAL   WORK.  IO9 

past  years  is  full  of  instruction  on  this  great  subject, 
a  subject  intimately  allied  with  the  prosperity  of  Zion 
and  the  salvation  of  men.  A  pure  revival  is  the  work 
of  God's  Spirit,  whereby  the  church  is  awakened  to  a 
sense  of  its  obligations  and  privileges,  and  in  answer  to 
the  prayers  of  God's  people  sinners  are  convicted  and 
converted.  The  theory  of  revivals  is  very  simple,  but 
he  that  winneth  souls  is  wise.  The  pastor  who  desires 
to  see  his  congregation  revived  will  seek  the  Spirit  for 
his  own  soul,  and  will  preach  as  a  dying  man  to  dying 
men.  He  will  be  instant  in  season  and  out  of  season  to 
reprove  and  exhort.  He  will  not  fail  to  declare  the 
whole  counsel  of  God.  Leaning  on  the  arm  of  the 
Almighty,  he  will  address  himself  to  the  work,  and 
wrestle  like  Jacob,  and  plead  like  Paul.  God  will  hear, 
and  he  loves  to  bless. 


XXIV. 
SPINNING-BEES. 

Varied  Offerings.  —  Social  Pleasures.  —  Supper  and 
Services.  —  Practical  Results. 

IN  the  retirement  of  a  secluded  parish  Hke  ours,  you 
would  hardly  look  for  much  in  the  way  of  amuse- 
ments. Of  course,  we  had  no  theatres  nor  circus,  nor 
any  of  the  hundred  play-houses  that  abound  in  this 
great  city.  But  we  had  some  means  of  amusement,  and 
if  they  were  not  so  fashionable  or  exciting  as  the  play 
or  the  opera,  they  were  far  more  rational,  useful,  and 
free  from  all  objections  on  the  score  of  evil. 

Many  a  city  reader  never  heard  of  a  spinning-bee  ! 
Was  it  a  general  gathering  of  the  good  women  of  the 
parish  with  their  spinning-wheels?  This  may  have 
been  the  fact  in  a  period  of  time  to  which  my  memory 
runneth  not  back,  but  such  was  not  the  meaning  of  the 
term  in  the  days  of  my  boyhood.  A  "bee"  was,  and 
is,  the  name  given  to  a  union  of  forces  for  the  accom- 
plishment of  any  given  enterprise  which  the  strength 
of  one  farmer  and  his  "  hands  "  could  not  achieve.  Or 
it  might  be  that  the  work  ought  to  be  done  up  at  once, 
and  time  would  be  saved  by  getting  the  help  of  the 
neighbors,  or  it  might  be  again  that  they  wanted  a 
frolic  more  than  they  wanted  work,  and  in  all  these  and 
other  instances  it  was  a  common  thing  to  invite  the 
people  far  and  near  to  come   and  take  hold ;    and   at 


SPINNING-BEES.  1 1  I 

such  times  there  was  plenty  of  cider  and  fun,  so  that 
the  work  was  play,  and  such  gatherings  were  looked 
upon  as  pastimes  rather  than  as  labors.  Such  were 
chopping-bees,  and  husking-bees,  and  apple-bees,  and 
the  like.  Very  likely  in  old,  very  old  times  the  people 
did  sometimes  come  together  with  their  wheels,  and  in 
concert  spin  ever  so  many  skeins  of  yarn  at  once,  help- 
ing one  another  by  mutual  gossip,  and  cheered  by  a 
social  cup  of  tea.  But  in  comparatively  modern  times, 
that  embrace  the  period  of  my  youth,  a  "  spinning-bee  " 
signified  a  visit  given  to  the  minister  by  his  congrega- 
tion, on  which  occasion  they  presented  him  with  articles 
useful  to  him  in  the  way  of  housekeeping,  according  to 
the  taste  and  ability  of  the  donor.  It  was  usually  held 
in  the  winter,  and  as  yarn,  of  linen  or  woollen,  was  the 
principal  article  of  donation,  it  came  to  pass  that  the 
name  of  "  spinning-bee  "  was  given  to  it  as  its  distinct- 
ive appellation,  though,  as  I  have  said,  it  may  be  that 
formerly  they  brought  their  wheels  also. 

The  order  of  exercises  was  somewhat  on  this  wise : 
Very  early  in  the  afternoon  the  wagons,  or  sleighs  if 
there  was  snow,  began  to  arrive.  In  that  goodly  place, 
and  in  those  goodly  times,  no  sooner  was  dinner  over 
(and  dinner  was  at  noon)  than  the  women  began  to  get 
ready,  if  they  were  going  out  to  tea,  and  by  one  or  two 
o'clock  they  were  on  the  way.  Three  was  late,  and  if 
by  any  accident  the  company  was  delayed  till  foiiv  or 
five,  they  were  given  up  as  "  not  coming  "  that  day. 

As  the  various  teams  arrived  the  farmers'  wives  came 
with  baskets  and  bundles,  the  former  well  stored  with 
biscuits,,  doughnuts,  and  crullers,  which  were  designed 
for  the  tea-table,  and  the  bundle  containing  the  more 
substantial  present  which  they  had  brought  in  token  of 


112  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

their  attachment  to  the  pastor.  Some  retired  room  was 
set  apart  for  the  reception  of  these  gifts,  and  there  the 
pastor's  wife  received  each  friend  as  she  arrived,  and 
thanked  her  kindly  for  the  very  welcome  offering.  One 
would  bring  two  or  three  pairs  of  nice  woollen  stock- 
ings, and  she  was  assured  that  nothing  could  be  more 
acceptable.  Another  had  brought  some  homespun  and 
home-made  linen,  white  as  the  driven  snow,  or  woollen 
which  her  own  hands  had  woven  into  good  substantial 
cloth  for  children's  clothes;  and  as  she  drew  forth  her 
goodly  gifts,  an  air  of  conscious  pride  was  in  her  face, 
as  she  expressed  her  regret  that  she  could  ofi'er  nothing 
better.  The  pastor's  wife  expressed  her  gratitude  in 
very  few  words,  and  was  scarcely  heard  before  she 
turned  to  shake  hands  with  another  lady,  who  had  just 
arrived  with  a  noble  cheese.  This  was  the  fruit  of  the 
giver's  own  labor ;  she  had  managed  her  dairy  herself, 
with  the  help  of  her  daughters,  each  of  whom  now  pre- 
sented sundry  rolls  of  golden  butter,  that  kings  might 
long  to  have  and  not  be  able  to  get.  Then  came 
others,  and  by  this  time  the  room  was  full  of  ladies,  all 
of  whom  had  come  laden  with  the  produce  of  their  own 
industry,  and  now  found  a  sweet  reward  of  their  toil  in 
the  thought  of  bestowing  it  on  those  whom  they  loved. 
In  another  part  of  the  house  the  men-folks  were  gath- 
ered, some  of  them  having  taken  pains  to  put  into  the 
wagon  a  few  bushels  of  grain,  or  a  quarter  of  beef,  or 
something  in  that  line,  and  they  found  a  place  to  de- 
posit it,  and  the  minister  was  now  engaged  in  profitable 
discourse  with  them,  —  a  privilege  which  the  most  of 
them  had  intelligence  enough  to  appreciate  and  enjoy. 
Soon  the  company  was  all  assembled  in  the  parlor  of 
the  parsonage,  and  the  rest  of  the  afternoon  was  spent 


SPINNING-BEES.  II3 

in  free  and  easy  conversation.  Here  was  a  fine  oppor- 
tunity for  those  living  far  apart  to  form  acquaintance 
with  one  another,  and  thus  the  most  distant  portions  of 
the  congregation  were  united  in  friendship  and  good 
neighborhood,  as  they  never  would  have  been  but  for 
these  annual  gatherings  at  the  minister's  house.  In  one 
corner  of  the  room,  or  in  another  room,  the  young 
people  were  together,  amusing  themselves  as  young 
people  will,  —  some  of  them,  perhaps  the  children,  en- 
gaged in  some  innocent  play,  and  the  rest  making  such 
entertainment  as  became  their  years,  while  the  smoth- 
ered laugh  and  the  half-hid  practical  joke  which  was 
now  and  then  attempted  showed  that  they  understood 
very  well  that  they  were  in  the  minister's  house,  and 
that  the  old  folks  were  within  hearing.  Thus  the  after- 
noon passed  away,  rapidly  and  pleasantly,  until  the  tea 
was  ready.  The  tables  —  all  the  tables  in  the  house  — 
were  spread  in  the  kitchen,  if  there  was  no  other  part 
of  the  house  that  could  be  used  for  such  a  service,  and 
loaded  with  the  good  things  which  the  company  had 
brought.  It  was  not  expected  that  the  lady  of  the 
house  would  furnish  any  part  of  the  entertainment. 
Some  of  the  more  notable  women  of  the  parish  superin- 
tended the  table,  seeing  that  everything  was  in  "  apple- 
pie  order,"  and  when  this  was  done  they  would  ask  out 
to  the  "  first  table  "  as  many  of  the  older  set  as  could 
be  accommodated  at  once.  Perhaps  there  were  places 
at  the  table  for  thirty,  and  when  these  had  "  well  drunk," 
the  next  set  was  invited  out,  and  then  another,  till  all, 
including  the  little  ones,  had  been  served.  These  va- 
rious tables  were  waited  upon  by  some  of  the  young 
ladies,  who  esteemed  it  an  honor  to  distinguish  them- 
selves on   such  an  occasion  by  showing  their  skill  in 

8 


114  SAMUEL   IREN^US    PRIME. 

one  of  the  most  important  parts  of  housekeeping,  and 
if  they  should  thus  commend  themselves  to  the  favor- 
able notice  of  any  observant  youth  of  the  other  sex,  it 
would  be  no  matter  of  surprise. 

These  operations  being  now  concluded,  the  company 
were  once  more  assembled  in  the  front  rooms  of  the 
parsonage,  and  the  shades  of  evening  giving  notice  that 
it  was  about  time  to  be  "  getting  their  things,"  and 
starting  for  home,  the  pastor  begs  them  to  sit  still  a  few 
moments  longer.  He  then,  in  few  words,  and  with 
great  propriety  of  language,  speaks  of  the  pleasure 
which  he  and  his  family  had  enjoyed  in  the  society  of 
their  friends,  the  gratitude  which  they  desired  to  feel 
for  the  varied  and  substantial  proofs  of  their  kindness, 
and  of  the  rich  occasion  which  he  and  his  people  had 
for  thanksgiving  to  God  for  the  bounties  of  his  provi- 
dence with  which  their  lives  were  crowned.  He  re- 
joiced that  their  lot  had  been  cast  in  the  midst  of  so 
much  that  called  for  grateful  acknowledgment,  and  he 
indulged  the  hope  that  they  would  so  improve  their 
manifold  mercies  that  the  good  Giver  of  them  all  would 
not  be  tempted  to  take  them  away  to  bestow  them  on 
those  who  would  improve  them  more  to  his  praise.  He 
then  read  a  psalm,  which  was  sung  with  great  spirit, 
after  which  they  all  knelt  down,  and  he  led  them  to  the 
throne  of  divine  grace  in  fervent  prayer,  invoking  the 
choicest  of  heaven's  blessings  on  them  and  their  house- 
holds to  the  latest  generation. 

This  was  the  signal  for  breaking  up.  Each  family,  as 
they  retired,  shook  hands  with  the  good  pastor  and  his 
wife,  and  made  them  "  promise  to  come  and  see  them," 
and  with  many  assurances  of  continued  regard  they 
found  the  way  to  their  respective  vehicles  and  homes. 


SPINNING-BEES.  II5 

After  they  had  all  gone,  or  perhaps  on  the  following 
day,  Mrs.  Prime  proceeded  to  parcel  out  the  various 
commodities,  to  see  what  use  could  be  made  of  matters 
and  things  in  general  which  had  been  received.  The 
most  valuable  presents  had  been  linen  yarn,  which  was 
now  to  be  sorted  according  to  its  quality  and  woven  by 
hand ;  for  in  those  days  there  were  few  factories  in  the 
country,  and  none  in  those  parts.  Perhaps  the  whole 
value  of  one  of  these  visits  to  the  minister  and  his 
family  was  somewhere  about  a  hundred  dollars ;  but 
the  chief  value  was  in  the  pledge  thus  given  of  affec- 
tionate interest,  and  in  the  opportunity  of  bringing  the 
people  together  sociably,  on  common  ground,  once  in 
every  year. 


XXV. 
RURAL    PLEASURES. 

Apple-Paring   Bees. —  Vol'thece    Frolics.  —  Country 
Weddings.  —  Solemn  Ceremonies. 

APPLE-PARING  bees  were  fine  times,  I  assure  you, 
and  I  sometimes  feel  as  if  I  would  give  more  for 
one  of  those  winter  evenings  in  the  long  kitchen,  paring 
apples  and  telling  stories,  than  for  all  the  fashionable 
parties,  with  music  and  mirth,  that  I  have  ever  attended. 
They  were  chiefly  confined  to  the  young  folks,  and 
were  usually  held  in  the  latter  part  of  autumn,  or  early 
in  the  winter.  It  was  customary  in  those  days,  when  as 
yet  there  was  no  objection  to  the  free  use  of  cider,  to 
make  a  large  quantity  of  apples  into  "apple-sauce," 
which  was  done  by  boiling  apples  in  cider  after  they 
were  peeled  and  quartered ;  after  which  the}^  were 
stored  away  for  winter  consumption.  A  large  quantity 
of  apples  were  also  pared,  quartered,  and  dried  by 
spreading  them  on  boards  and  exposing  them  to  the 
sun,  or  by  stringing  them  and  hanging  them  in  the 
kitchen  or  on  the  sides  of  the  house.  Now,  it  was  no 
small  affair  to  prepare  a  dozen  bushels  of  apples  in  this 
way,  but  the  work  was  light  and  pleasant,  and  just  such 
work  as  it  is  far  pleasanter  to  do  with  others  to  help 
you,  than  to  do  alone ;  so  it  was  common  to  assemble 
the  young  men  and  maidens  from  all  the  country-side, 
or  at  least  as  man\'  as  the  kitchen,  the  scene  of  action, 


RURAL    PLEASURES.  11/ 

would  accommodate ;  and  each  guest  being  provided 
with  a  knife,  and  a  dish  for  his  chips,  the  work  was 
begun  and  carried  on  with  all  the  sprightliness  and  fun 
which  you  would  naturally  expect  in  such  a  gathering. 
Plenty  of  new  cider,  not  strong  enough  to  do  much  mis- 
chief, was  at  hand,  and  often  passed  around,  together 
with  the  apples  and  nuts,  and  all  went  "  merry  as  a  mar- 
riage-bell." 

The  boys  and  girls  were  interspersed  to  give  variety 
to  the  company ;  not  all  the  young  men  on  one  side, 
and  all  the  young  women  on  the  other,  as  is  the  foolish 
practice  in  some  of  the  churches  where  the  seats  are 
free ;  but  each  choosing  his  own  place,  and  showing  his 
preferences  by  slily  locating  himself  alongside  of  the 
fair  one  whose  ear  he  wished  to  command  during  the 
evening.  For  the  space  of  a  couple  of  hours  the  work 
would  go  forward  with  spirit,  some  paring  the  apples, 
and  passing  them  to  others,  who  would  quarter  and 
core  them ;  while  others  still  would,  with  a  large  needle 
and  thread,  string  them  (like  enormous  pearls)  pre- 
pared to  be  suspended  for  the  process  of  drying,  or  to 
be  reserved  for  boiling.  But  after  hard  work  the  young 
folks  would  begin  to  complain  of  being  tired,  and  some 
of  the  more  forward  would  hint  the  expediency  of 
taking  a  rest.  Soon  the  labor  of  the  evening  was  sus- 
pended, and  an  innocent  but  diverting  play  was  pro- 
posed, in  which  all  joined  with  more  spirit  and  glee  than 
the  ball-room  would  show,  while  the  merry  laugh  and 
the  happy  hit  gave  the  best  evidence  that  these  young 
people  could  be  cheerful  and  gay  without  even  the 
knowledge  of  one  of  the  ten  thousand  means  of  amuse- 
ment which  our  city-bred  youth  deem  indispensable. 
Yet  these  fashionable  folly-seekers  would  probably  affect 


Il8  SAMUEL   IRENiEUS    PRIME. 

a  blush,  and  perhaps  an  exclamation  of  contempt,  if  I 
should  add  that  these  countr)-  plays  not  unfrequently 
sent  a  youni;  beau  to  inflict  a  kiss  upon  the  half-hidden 
and  reluctant  cheek  of  the  "  one  he  liked  best,"  or  the 
"handsomest  girl  in  the  room," — penalties  to  be  paid 
for  failure  in  the  game.  But  dreadful  as  such  rustic 
practices  must  appear  to  the  refined  people  who  can  sit 
half  the  night  and  see  a  half-clad  girl  dancing  on  the 
stage ;  dreadful,  I  say,  as  our  old  fashioned  rustic  plays 
must  seem  to  the  delicate  sensibilities  of  the  refined 
generation  that  now  dwells  in  these  parts,  I  indulge  the 
opinion  that  the  state  of  society  where  these  dreadful 
things  were  tolerated  was  a  thousand-fold  more  virtuous 
and  lovely  than  that  secured  by  the  artificial  laws  of  the 
world  of  fashion.  Certain  I  am  that  if  any  young 
woman  had  ventured  into  an  evening  party  attired  as  I 
have  seen  married  and  unmarried  ladies  in  parties  and 
concerts  in  the  city  of  New  York,  she  would  have  been 
sent  home  as  one  who  was  ignorant  of  the  first  dictates 
of  propriety. 

These  rural  amusements  were  more  commonly  and 
more  heartily  enjoyed  at  the  country-weddings  than  at 
any  other  gatherings.  The  parties  were  more  select, 
and  being  often  composed  of  those  families  only  who 
were  connected  by  marriage,  or  intimately  acquainted, 
there  was  less  restraint  thrown  around  them,  and  the 
young  people  gave  themselves  a  wider  margin  in  the 
selection  of  their  sports  and  the  imposition  of  their 
penalties.  Now,  I  can  readily  imagine  that  some  will 
be  so  fastidious  as  to  slightly  turn  upward  their  facial 
projections  if  I  go  on  to  recount  the  sports  of  the  young 
at  a  country-wedding,  and  so  I  must  confine  myself  to 
as   general   and   cursory  a  view  of  the   facts  as  will  be 


RURAL   PLEASURES.  I  I9 

consistent  with  my  duty  as  an  impartial  historian  of 
those  times. 

Am  I  at  Hberty  to  say  nothing  of  the  state  of  society 
then  and  there  ?  May  I  pass  by  in  silence  the  very 
form  and  feature  of  the  folks,  in  those  circumstances 
where  character  is  developed,  and  the  power  of  the 
instruction  they  received  was  likely  to  exhibit  more  or 
less  of  its  fruits  ?  I  shall  therefore  tell  the  truth,  and 
here  I  will  add  that  you  may  probably  search  the  coun- 
try over  in  vain  to  find  a  community  where  fewer  youth 
were  led  into  habits  of  vice  than  in  the  old  country  con- 
gregation where  it  is  my  pride  to  say  I  had  my  "  bring- 
ing up."     But  the  weddings. 

These  were  not  merely  times  for  fun.  A  marriage 
ceremony  performed  by  Mr.  Prime  was  a  solemn  season, 
long  to  be  remembered  by  those  more  immediately 
concerned,  and  well  calculated  to  produce  a  good  im- 
pression^  upon  all  who  heard  it.  The  form  which  he 
used  was  simple  and  expressive,  the  vows  which  he 
required  were  tender,  scriptural,  and  strong;  the  coun- 
sels he  gave  were  weighty,  plain,  and  so  affectionately 
urged  upon  the  youthful  pair  that  they  could  scarcely 
fail  to  be  remembered  and  referred  to  in  after  life.  And 
then  his  prayers  —  with  what  earnestness  and  strength 
he  would  commend  them  to  the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob,  and  invoke  upon  them  the  blessings  prom- 
ised to  the  families  that  call  on  his  name.  In  the 
midst  of  these  services  the  most  devout  solemnity 
always  reigned,  and  the  parents  of  both  parties  ap- 
peared to  feel  (as  they  should)  that  a  most  momentous 
step  was  taken  by  their  children  ;  and  the  friends  around 
looked  on  as  if  each  had  an  interest  at  heart  in  the 
future  happiness  of  the  parties  now  united  in  tender  and 


ijo  SAMi  i:l  iren.eus  prime. 

holy  bonds.  After  the  ceremony  "  cake  and  wine  " 
were  handed  around,  and  moderately  partaken  of  by 
the  company,  the  days  of  total  abstinence  being  in  the 
future.  But  there  was  no  more  dnnhi)ig  after  that 
single  glass,  and  I  never  heard  that  any  weddings  were 
disgraced  by  such  scenes  of  excessive  indulgence  in 
liquors  as  have  been  common  in  these  latter  days. 
Doubtless  many  have  thought  it  right  and  proper  to 
drink  wine  freely  at  weddings,  though  they  would  ab- 
stain from  it  at  other  times;  and  thus  the  example  of 
sober  men  has  encouraged  the  young  to  indulge  with 
less  restraint. 


XXVI. 

COUNTRY  AND   CITY. 

Domestic  Games.  —  Corn-huskings.  —  Early  Influences. — 
Country   Boys. 

AT  our  evening  entertainments  so  long  as  the  min- 
ister remained  there  was  very  Httle  in  the  way  of 
amusement;  not  because  he  would  frown  upon  it,  nor 
because  the  amusements  were  to  be  such  as  would 
offend  any  serious  people ;  but  there  was  a  silent  rever- 
ence always  felt  for  the  pastor  that  forbade  any  mirth  in 
his  presence,  and  sobriety  was  therefore  a  tribute  invol- 
untarily but  cheerfully  rendered  to  his  exalted  worth. 
The  young  folks  did  not  feel  free  to  laugh  very  loud  or 
to  play  very  hard  when  the  minister  could  see  or  hear 
them.  He  understood  this  very  well,  and  after  a  little 
pleasant  conversation  with  the  family  and  the  friends,  he 
withdrew  and  returned  to  his  home.  This  was  the  signal 
for  the  sport  to  begin. 

Two  or  three  youngsters  immediately  proposed  as 
many  different  plays,  which  were  responded  to  accord- 
ing to  the  various  tastes  of  the  party,  till  at  length  one 
was  selected  by  the  prevailing  voices,  with  the  promise 
to  play  the  others  afterward.  As  at  the  "apple-par- 
ing," the  great  attraction  of  these  plays  was  found  in  the 
fact  that  whoever  was  "  caught,"  either  by  failing  to 
"  catch  the  plate,"  or  to  "  find  the  slipper,"  or  in  any 
other  of  the  operations  set  on  foot,  was  condemned  to 


122  SAMUEL    IREN.tUS    PRIME. 

"  measure  off  so  many  yards  of  tape  "  with  such  a  young 
lady,  or  to  walk  so  many  times  around  the  room  in  com- 
pany with  another,  or  to  perform  some  shmlar  />a2afice, 
the  more  of  which  he  had  to  suffer,  the  more  agreeable 
it  was  to  him  and  his  partner.  Many  of  these  plays  re- 
quired not  a  little  "  bodily  exercise,"  and  there  was  quite 
as  great  a  demand  for  gracefulness  and  agility  as  in  the 
more  fashionable  amusement  of  dancing,  which  I  never 
knew  to  be  attempted  at  any  of  these  parties.  Some- 
times the  older  folks  would  catch  the  spirit  of  the  times, 
and  enter  with  great  zest  into  the  amusements  of  their 
children,  being  reminded  of  the  days  long  since  gone  by 
when  they  too  w^ere  young,  and  delighted  in  the  same 
"childish  things."  Often  have  I  seen  a  grave  man  with 
gray  hairs  thus  renewing  his  youth,  apparently  the  hap- 
piest of  the  party,  and  the  zeal  with  which  he  engaged 
in  the  pastimes  of  the  young  gave  new  life  to  their 
spirits,  and  all  were  as  blithe  and  gay  as  the  birds  are  on 
this  bright  May  morning  w^hile  I  write. 

It  was  no  very  rare  thing  for  them  to  wind  up  the 
plays  of  a  merry  evening  like  this  with  an  amusement 
which  certainly  was  censurable,  and  now  that  I  look 
back  upon  it  I  am  led  to  wonder  that  they  should  ever 
venture  upon  it;  I  mean  a  '' wcdduig  in  fiiny  True 
this  performance  was  not  attended  with  any  of  the 
solemnities  that  belonged  to  the  serious  service,  but  it 
was  taking  an  improper  liberty  with  a  subject  and  cere 
mony  not  to  be  trifled  with,  and  I  am  sorry  that  I  ever 
had  a  hand  in  any  follies  of  that  sort  Usually  a  young 
couple  would  be  found  who  had  no  great  objections  to 
standing  up  side  by  side,  and  one  of  the  company  would 
repeat  some  doggerel  poetry,  being  a  burlesque  upon  a 
marriage  form,  which  w^as  no  sooner  o\er  than  the  whole 


COUNTRY   AND   CITY.  1 23 

company  would  come  in  pairs  to  salute  the  bride;  which 
performance,  by  the  way,  was  the  real  object  of  the 
play.  In  such  sports  as  these  the  youth  amused  them- 
selves until  ten  o'clock,  which  was  always  looked  upon 
as  a  late  hour  to  be  out.  Yet  it  was  nothing  strange  for 
them  to  be  so  much  engaged  in  their  sports  as  to  forget 
the  flight  of  time  until  some  of  the  older  ones  were 
obliged  to  remind  them  that  it  was  high  time  to 
adjourn. 

No  space  is  left  for  me  in  this  letter  —  and  it  will  not 
do  for  me  to  resume  the  theme  again  —  to  say  anything 
of  several  other  "  country  pastimes  "  which  were  com- 
mon in  the  days  whereof  I  am  now  writing.  I  doubtless 
had  a  taste  for  those  things  then,  and  some  may  say 
that  the  frosts  of  age  have  not  killed  the  taste  quite 
yet. 

"  Corn-huskings "  were  seasons  of  great  enjoyment 
among'  the  young  farmers,  when  they  came  together  in 
the  barn  and  husked  the  Indian  corn  which  had  been  cut 
up  by  the  roots  and  drawn  under  cover  for  the  purpose. 
This  was  a  combination  of  labor  and  pleasure  which  I 
never  fancied,  and  of  which  I  shall  have  nothing  to  say. 
But  the  great  attraction  in  the  way  of  outdoor  winter 
amusement  was  sleighing,  — parties  being  often  formed 
of  young  people,  and  older  ones  too,  to  drive  off  some 
twelve  or  fifteen  miles  and  back  again,  to  the  sound  of 
as  many  strings  of  bells  as  each  man  could  raise  for  the 
occasion.  And  I  should  like,  if  I  had  room,  to  say 
something  about  a  "  wood-bee  "  that  took  place  every 
winter,  when  the  farmers  brought  each  of  them  a  "  load 
of  wood"  to  the  good  minister;  or  they  would  meet  at 
his  house  with  their  teams,  and  proceed  to  the  forest 
where  a  lot  of  wood  had  been  cut  ready  for  his  use,  and 


124  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

in  the  course  of  tiie  day  they  would  haul  enough  to  his 
door  to  keep  him  warm  for  a  year.  But  all  these  things 
must  be  left  untold.  I  very  much  fear  that  these  chron- 
icles will  be  the  only  authentic  records  to  which  poster- 
ity can  refer  for  information  about  my  native  parish,  and 
it  pains  me  to  think  how  much  I  must  leave  to  pass  into 
perpetual  oblivion. 

Those  who  have  but  a  slight  acquaintance  with  the 
ways  of  the  world  in  a  great  cit)',  or  in  our  thriving  vil- 
lages, and,  indeed,  in  the  country  at  the  present  day, 
will  be  struck  with  the  contrast  which  these  scenes  pre- 
sent. I  am  arrested  painfully  by  the  thought  that  while 
light  literature,  and  handsome  books,  and  popular  lec- 
tures, and  public  meetings,  offer  intellectual  entertain- 
ment to  our  youth,  they  are  also  tempted  continually  by 
the  seductive  influences  of  a  wicked  world,  to  indulge  in 
those  pleasures  that  endanger  the  immortal  soul.  Here 
in  the  city  I  would  live,  as  I  would  in  China  or  India  if 
duty  called  me  there  ;  and,  therefore,  the  children  whom 
God  has  given  me  must  here  be  trained  for  this  world 
and  the  world  to  come.  But  often  docs  my  heart  turn 
to  that  secluded  parish  among  the  hills,  as  the  very  spot 
where  I  would  educate  my  children  for  eternity.  What 
though  the  elegances  of  life  were  there  unknown,  and 
nature  was  in  her  own  dress,  and  men  and  women 
walked  and  talked  without  any  other  rule  than  virtue 
and  good  sense  prescribed  !  What  though  there  were 
no  such  schools  of  morals  as  tJie  theaitr,  and  no  schools 
of  manners  like  the  dancing-schools  of  the  metropolis ! 
They  had  what  was  better  far:  the  high  and  holy  prin- 
ciples of  truth  and  honesty  were  taught  to  them  by 
the  fireside,  and  from  the  pulpit;  they  saw  the  power 
and  beauty  of  virtue  in  the  example  set  before  them, 


COUNTRY   AND    CITY.  125 

and  early  learned  to  fear  God  and  keep  his  command- 
ments. 

And  then  it  was  something  to  have  the  character 
formed  in  the  midst  of  nature's  glorious  works ;  to  have 
communion  with  God  in  the  wide  temple  not  made 
with  hands ;  to  hear  and  see  him,  not  in  the  wilderness 
of  men's  workmanship  here  in  the  city,  but  in  the 
majesty  of  the  forest,  in  the  simple  beauty  of  the  purl- 
ing stream,  and  to  admire  his  ever-active  goodness  in 
the  springing,  growing,  ripening  grain.  Oh !  it  is  a 
good  thing  to  get  a  chain  from  these  to  a  child's  heart; 
in  after  life  the  links  will  hold  him  fast,  and  may  be 
among  the  last  to  yield  if  he  is  tempted  to  become  a 
prodigal.  Better  to  make  an  honest  man,  though  he 
never  wear  anything  but  a  tow  frock,  than  to  train  a 
finished  gentleman  and  a  finished  rogue.  The  chances 
are  a  thousand  to  one  in  favor  of  the  country.  Our 
city  rherchants  advertising  for  clerks  often  say,  "  One 
from  the  country  would  be  preferred."  They  know 
where  to  look  for  good  boys.  And  although  many  may 
have  thought  my  account  of  our  up-country  plays  not 
sufficiently  refined,  I  will  trust  to  their  good  sense  to 
acquit  me  of  any  intention  to  oft"end  their  delicate  tastes, 
while  I  have  been  yielding  to  the  associations  of  early 
life  and  running  back  to  the  days  of  "  Auld  Lang 
Syne." 


XXVII. 

THE    SECRET    DISCIPLE. 

No  Religion.  — The  Pastor's  Visit.  —  The  Confession.— 
The  Testimony.  —  Dying  Triumph. 

NEAR  my  father's  house  hved  a  farmer,  who,  for  a 
rarity  in  that  neighborhood,  was  not  a  rehgious 
man.  The  family  was  an  irreligious  family;  attending 
church,  it  is  true,  and  so  far  as  a  public  example  went, 
paying  a  decent  respect  to  the  means  of  grace.  It  was 
never  known  that  any  one  of  them  (and  there  was  a 
large  number  of  children)  had  any  serious  thoughts  on 
the  subject  of  religion.  Some  of  the  boys  were  openly 
profane,  neglecters  of  divine  worship,  and  knt)wn  in 
the  community  as  bad  men.  The  girls  were  not  gay, 
but  had  never  made  any  pretensions  to  religion ;  living 
in  the  midst  of  the  gospel  as  if  it  were  sent  to  all  but 
them. 

Of  the  three  or  four  girls  now  grown  to  womanhood, 
there  was  one  who  was  known  to  be  more  retiring  in  her 
manners,  gentler  in  her  disposition,  and  more  inclined 
to  attend  religious  meetings  than  any  of  the  rest.  Yet 
it  was  altogether  unknown  to  her  own  sisters  and  parents 
and  to  every  one  else  that  even  sJie  was  ever  concerned 
about  her  soul.  Her  quietness  of  manner  and  occa- 
sional seriousness  were  attributed  to  the  fact  that  her 
health  was  delicate.  It  was  now  drawing  nigh  to  winter, 
and  as  the  cold  weather  increased,  it  was  observed  that 


THE   SECRET   DISCIPLE.  1 27 

Sarah  had  a  sHght  cough  and  her  cheeks,  which  were 
naturally  free  from  color,  were  slightly  tinged  with 
a  hue  that  looked  like  returning  health.  But  it  came 
and  went  again,  and  the  cough  increased,  and  Sarah's 
strength,  never  great,  was  failing,  and  before  winter  was 
over  she  was  confined  to  her  bed,  the  marked  and  sealed 
victim  of  consumption.  Mr.  Prime  had  watched  her  for 
a  long  time,  as  he  had  seen  her  quietly  dropping  in  at 
an  evening  prayer-meeting,  or  he  had  detected  a  fixed 
attention  and  apparent  interest  under  the  preaching  of 
the  Word,  and  when  it  was  known  that  her  health  was 
failing  he  had  sought  an  early  occasion  to  see  her  and 
speak  with  her  of  the  things  belonging  to  her  everlast- 
ing peace.  As  soon  as  she  could  converse  with  him  in 
private,  and  so  privately  that  none  of  the  family  could 
hear  the  confession  she  had  to  make,  Sarah  stated  that 
for  more  than  a  year  past  she  had  cherished  a  secret 
and  trembling  hope  that  her  sins  had  been  forgiven,  and 
that  Jesus  was  her  Saviour !  He  was  astonished,  almost 
as  if  he  had  seen  a  vision.  To  have  found  a  disciple  of 
Christ  in  that  family  was  a  discovery  he  had  never 
dreamed  of  making,  and  sooner  far  would  he  have 
thought  of  being  met  with  a  cold  repulse  when  he 
came,  as  a  faithful  minister  and  pastor,  to  urge  the 
claims  of  the  gospel  on  one  whom  he  feared  was  insen- 
sible to  both  her  duty  and  danger.  He  begged  her  to 
open  her  heart  with  all  freedom,  and  tell  him  by  what 
way  she  had  been  led  to  cherish  such  a  hope  as  seemed 
to  be  hovering  round  her  soul.  Taking  courage  from 
the  kindness  of  her  good  pastor's  tone,  and  finding  a 
sweet  relief  in  the  very  thought  of  having  one  to  share 
a  secret  which  she  had  never  wished  to  keep,  Sarah  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  say  that  for  many  years  she  had  been 


128  SAMUEL  IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

more  or  less  anxious  as  to  the  future ;  she  had  hstened 
with  attention  to  the  preaching  of  the  Word,  and  had 
read  the  Bible  when  no  one  would  know  it ;  but  the 
family  was  so  much  opposed  to  religion  that  she  had 
shrunk  from  making  any  disclosure  of  her  feelings,  lest 
she  should  encounter  the  ridicule  and  opposition  of  her 
friends.  Often  the  words  of  her  Saviour  spoken  to 
those  who  were  afraid  to  confess  him  before  men  had 
fallen  with  dreadful  power  on  her  burdened  heart,  and 
she  had  prayed  for  strength  to  overcome  the  fear  which 
as  a  snare  had  bound  her,  but  hitherto  she  had  not  been 
able  to  resist  the  temptation  to  silence.  But  now  the  ice 
was  broken.  She  had  told  some  one  of  it,  and  she  was 
willing  and  anxious  that  the  world  should  know  that  she 
would  be  the  friend  and  follower  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  Her  parents,  and  brothers,  and  sisters,  were 
struck  dumb  at  the  announcement  that  one  of  their 
number  wished  to  be  a  Christian !  Yet  Sarah  had 
always  been  so  mild  and  patient,  silent,  and  sometimes 
sad,  that  they  were  ready  to  admit  they  had  always 
thought  "  Sally  was  trying  to  be  good,"  though  she  had 
said  nothing  about  it. 

A  new  scene  opened  in  that  house  on  the  day  that 
this  revelation  was  made.  Sarah  was  confined  to  her 
bed,  and  symptoms  had  appeared,  too  plain  to  be  mis- 
taken, that  a  disease  which  never  rests  was  silently 
working  its  way  through  the  frail  tenement  that  confined 
her  spirit ;  but  a  joy  and  peace  of  more  than  earthly 
lustre  and  loveliness  glowed  upon  her  face,  and  her- 
tongue,  loosed  as  from  a  silence  of  life,  was  now  con- 
stantly speaking  of  the  wonderful  love  of  him  who  was 
her  soul's  comfort  and  stay.  She  called  her  aged  par- 
ents to  her  bedside  and  told  them  that  she  was  soon  to 


THE   SECRET   DISCIPLE.  1 29 

die,  that  they  tvcre  soon  to  die,  that  the  precious  Saviour 
who  had  spoken  peace  to  her  soul  was  also  able  and 
willing  to  forgive  their  sins  and  prepare  them  for  hea- 
ven ;  but  they  must  m.ake  haste  to  repent,  or  they  would 
fail  of  eternal  life.  And  then  she  pointed  to  the  skies, 
and  spoke  of  the  judgment-seat  of  Christ,  before  which 
she  and  they  would  shortly  stand,  and  with  all  the  tender 
emotion  that  must  swell  a  dying  daughter's  heart  as  she 
pleads  with  her  gray-haired  parents  on  the  verge  of  the 
grave,  she  besought  them  to  seek  the  Lord  till  they 
found  him,  and  make  sure  work  for  the  dread  eternity 
before  them.  Then  she  called  her  brothers  and  sisters 
around  her,  and  from  time  to  time,  as  she  had  strength 
to  speak,  she  commended  the  Saviour  to  them  as  the 
guide  of  their  youth,  begging  them  to  forsake  their  sins, 
and  to  embrace  him  as  their  portion.  The  cold  indiffer- 
ence with  which  these  affectionate  appeals  were  received 
would  'have  been  discouraging  to  any  one  but  a  sister 
who  felt  that  there  was  hope  for  them  as  well  as  for  her ; 
and  as  long  as  life  lingered  with  her,  and  she  could 
summon  strength  for  the  dying  effort,  she  ceased  not  to 
warn  them  of  the  danger  of  their  ways,  and  to  press 
upon  them  the  love  and  compassion  of  him  whom  she 
had  found  so  precious. 

She  lingered  along  through  the  winter  and  the  spring, 
and  in  the  midst  of  summer  death  came  to  her  chamber 
and  set  her  spirit  free.  There  was  a  vast  assembly  at 
her  funeral;  all  the  young  people  from  the  whole  coun- 
"try-side  assembled  ;  many  of  them  had  long  known  her 
and  her  sisters  in  the  days  of  their  youthful  vanity,  and 
having  heard  that  she  had  secretly  turned  from  the 
world  to  God,  they  were  arrested  for  a  moment  by  the 
voice  of  Providence,  and  came  to  follow  ner  remains  tQ 

9 


I30  SAMUEL   IREN^US   PRIME. 

the  grave.  It  was  at  this  funeral  that  I  heard  the  narra- 
tive of  the  death-bed  experience  of  this  young  lady. 
Mr.  Prime  said  that  it  was  one  of  the  most  triumphant 
and  wonderful  scenes  he  had  witnessed  in  his  whole 
ministry.  From  the  hour  that  she  had  found  grace  to 
confess  Christ  before  men  he  had  revealed  himself  to 
her  soul  with  a  fulness  of  love  that  passed  all  under- 
standing. It  was  dying  grace,  displayed  with  a  richness 
and  depth  that  filled  her  with  joys  and  rejoicings  which 
no  words  were  adequate  to  convey.  If  any  regret  was 
mingled  with  her  thoughts  of  an  early  death,  it  was 
drawn  from  the  fact  that  she  had  so  long  concealed  her 
feelings ;  perhaps  if  she  had  at  an  earlier  day  avowed 
the  Lord  to  be  her  God,  she  might  have  persuaded 
those  she  loved  to  come  with  licr  in  the  way  to  heaven. 
As  the  weeks  of  weariness  and  declension  wore  away, 
her  soul  renewed  its  strength,  and  delighted  in  flying 
nearer  and  nearer  to  the  celestial  world.  Visions,  not 
of  fancy,  but  visions  of  revealed  glor)',  such  as  the  soul 
sees  when  sin  is  dying  daily  and  loveliness  is  rising 
,in  beauty  and  strength  on  the  ascending  spirit,  now 
opened  to  her  enraptured  eye,  and  she  described  her 
glorious  views  with  an  eloquence  and  fervor  that  filled 
her  friends  with  wonderful  awe !  They  knew  not  what 
it  meant.  Their  ears  had  never  heard  such  sounds; 
the  very  walls  of  the  house  were  strangers  to  the  voice 
of  prayer  and  praise,  and  with  silent  amazement  the  old 
parents  sat  by  the  side  of  that  dying  bed,  and  as  if 
stupefied  by  the  sight,  beheld  their  daughter  trying  her 
wings  for  a  flight  to  the  throne  of  God.  For  many  days 
before  her  departure  she  lived  in  a  frame  of  mind  such 
as  few  saints  attain,  and  at  last,  when  the  hour  of  her 
departure    came,   she   cried:    "O   grave!    where    is   thy 


THE   SECRET   DISCIPLE.  131 

victory?  O  death!  where  is  thy  sting?"  and  with  a 
smile  that  would  have  looked  sweet  on  a  seraph's  brow, 
she  fell  asleep  in  Jesus. 

The  funeral  made  a  deep  impression  on  the  great  as- 
sembly, and  not  a  few  of  the  young  people  were  awak- 
ened to  a  sense  of  their  own  condition.  The  death  of 
Sarah  was  thus  made  the  life  of  others,  so  that  what  she 
had  failed  to  do  by  her  living  precepts,  the  grace  of  God 
was  able  to  accomplish  through  her  dying  testimony. 


XXVIII. 

THE   FORGER. 

The    Young    Lawyer.  —  Beyond   his    Means.  —  Crime  and 
Flight.  —  Love  and  Capture. — Wages  of  Sin. 

IN  our  congregation,  but  residing  at  some  distance 
from  the  church,  and  in  a  populous  neighborhood, 
there  was  a  family  of  more  than  ordinary  intelligence 
and  refinement.  The  gentleman  had  been  in  pro- 
fessional life  in  a  distant  city,  and  having  acquired 
property  retired  to  our  pleasant  region,  and  fixed  his 
residence  on  a  large  farm  which  he  had  purchased. 
Dr.  Jones  mingled  but  little  with  the  people,  his  tastes 
leading  him  rather  to  the  retirement  of  his  books  and 
the  society  of  a  few  friends  who  sought  him  out.  His 
chief  pleasure  was  in  his  family,  consisting  only  of  his 
wife  and  daughter,  with  a  nephew  of  his  own  name,  who 
had  lived  with  him  as  his  son,  and  was  destined  to  be 
/;/  laiv  acknowledged  as  such  when  the  young  man  and 
the  doctor's  daughter  were  old  enough  to  be  married. 
Young  Jones  had  studied  law,  and  having  been  admitted 
to  practice,  he  settled  down  in  the  village  near  the  Old 
White  Meeting-house,  and  entered  life  with  the  finest 
prospect  of  property  and  honor.  He  and  his  cousin 
had  loved  from  childhood ;  both  were  gifted  with 
charms  of  person  and  mind  that  are  not  often  equalled, 
and  when  they  were  married  it  was  a  common  remark 
that  a  "  handsomer  couple  were  seldom  seen."     Young 


THE   FORGER.  1 33 

Jones  was  known  as  an  amiable  youth,  and  without 
those  bold  and  manly  traits  of  character  that  command 
attention  at  first  glance,  he  was  silently  and  gradually 
winning  his  way  into  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  the 
community.  His  father-in-law  cheerfully  supplied  the 
young  beginners  with  the  means  of  starting  in  the  world, 
and  never  did  a  brighter  life  lie  in  the  distance  than 
that  on  which  they  looked.  But  Jones  found  it  slow 
work  to  get  into  business.  He  went  into  court  with  no 
cases  of  his  own  to  manage ;  while  others  less  able  than 
he  were  busy,  and  some  of  them  had  more  than  they 
could  do,  he  was  idle.  He  began  to  be  discouraged. 
It  occurred  to  him  that  he  must  make  a  show  of  busi- 
ness if  he  had  none ;  he  would  live  in  style  and  make  a 
dash,  and  people  would  then  open  their  eyes  and  say: 
"  What  a  smart  young  man  that  must  be,  to  get  ahead 
so  fast."  To  carry  out  this  bad  purpose  required  more 
means  than  he  could  command.  He  drew  upon  the 
doctor  as  far  as  he  could,  until  the  judicious  parent 
counselled  him  to  live  within  his  income,  and  by-and-by 
told  him  with  some  plainness  that  he  feared  he  was 
going  too  far  and  running  into  debt  beyond  his  ability 
to  pay.  The  young  lawyer  had  by  this  time  got  a  taste 
of  the  pleasures  of  free  living,  and  had  no  notion  of 
retracing  his  steps  and  coming  down.  His  sweet  wife 
whispered  to  him  that  they  were  not  as  happy  as  in 
simpler  days,  but  he  spoke  to  her  of  the  time  when  she 
should  shine  as  one  so  lovely  ought,  and  flattered  her, 
as  women  may  be  flattered  by  those  they  love,  into 
silence. 

Soon  the  funds  were  running  low.  He  borrowed 
where  he  could,  and  his  credit,  based  on  his  father-in- 
law's  known  ability,  was  sufficient  to  keep  him  up,  and 


134  SAMUEL  IRENvtUS    I'RIME. 

a  suspicion  of  his  integrity  had  never  crossed  the  mind 
of  an)'  one.  Suddenly,  and  as  if  one  of  the  hills  had 
been  shaken,  it  was  told  in  the  streets  that  young  Jones 
had  presented  a  forged  note  at  a  bank  in  a  city  about 
thirty  miles  off.  The  people  could  not  believe  it.  But 
the  fact  was  too  true,  and  he  had  been  successful  so  far 
in  his  wickedness.  He  had  indeed  forged  the  names  of 
some  of  the  most  substantial  citizens  of  the  place  to  a 
note  ;  he  had  even  written  his  own  father-in-law's  name  ; 
he  had  got  the  note  discounted,  and  when  it  became 
due  it  was  of  course  protested,  and  sent  up  to  our 
quiet  town  to  be  collected,  when  in  an  instant  the  for- 
gery was  discovered.  What  a  blow  was  this  to  his 
young  wife !  happy  in  her  ignorance  of  his  crime,  she 
had  caressed  him  to  the  hour  of  the  fatal  disclosure, 
and  then  the  sympathy  of  friends  would  have  fain  con- 
cealed it  from  her;  but  he,  the  husband  of  her  youth, 
strained  her  to  his  heart,  and  told  her  that  he  was  a 
villain  and  must  fly  from  an  infamous  punishment  that 
might  speedily  overtake  him.  He  did  fly.  It  was  late 
in  the  autumn —  I  think  the  latter  part  of  November  — 
when  he  left  his  wife  fainting  at  the  horrid  news  his  own 
lips  had  brought,  instead  of  the  kiss  that  she  had  been 
wont  to  receive;  and  just  in  the  edge  of  evening  of  a 
cold,  dark  night,  he  started  from  his  house  to  fl}',  he 
knew  not  whither,  —  he  cared  not,  if  he  could  get  away 
from  himself  and  justice. 

As  soon  as  it  was  known  that  he  had  fled,  the  proper 
steps  were  taken  for  his  arrest.  Yet  such  was  the  gen- 
eral feeling  of  pit)'  for  the  poor  wife  that  no  one  was  in 
haste  to  pursue  him.  A  warrant  was,  however,  issued, 
and  officers  despatched  who  succeeded,  after  a  while,  in 
overtaking    him,   and    he  was  brought   back    for  trial. 


THE   FORGER.  I35 

Now  was  the  time  to  test  the  strength  of  principle 
among  our  plain  people.  It  would  have  been  a  very 
easy  matter  to  raise  the  money  and  pay  the  note,  and 
perhaps  the  affair  could  thus  be  compromised,  and  there 
were  many  thoughts  of  doing  something  to  stay  the 
arm  of  the  law.  But  it  would  not  be  right,  —  that  was 
very  plain ;  and  justice  must  be  done,  though  hearts 
break.  The  prisoner  was  kept  in  close  confinement  for 
several  days  while  there  was  some  delay  in  the  attend- 
ance of  witnesses ;  and  young  Jones,  watching  his  op- 
portunity with  sleepless  eye,  found  a  chance,  in  the 
dead  of  night,  to  get  out  of  the  house  where  he  was 
kept  under  the  care  of  two  constables,  who  had  taken 
turns  in  sleeping  both  at  a  time.  When  they  waked  up 
their  prisoner  was  gone.  The  alarm  was  given,  and  in 
a  few  minutes  a  number  of  men  were  mounted  to  give 
chase.  A  thought  struck  one  of  them  —  he  must  have 
been  a  man  of  feeling  —  and  stopping  the  rest,  he  said 
to  them  that  "  Jie  kneiv  Jones  would  not  go  out  of  the 
village  till  he  had  seen  his  wife ;  there  was  no  use  in 
chasing  till  they  had  searched  his  own  house."  The 
party  therefore  proceeded  with  great  caution  to  the 
house  where  the  stricken  wife  still  resided,  and  as  they 
stealthily  approached  the  door  there  came  a  cry  of 
anguish  from  the  chamber,  which  told  too  terribly  that 
innocence  and  guilt  were  wailing  in  each  other's  arms. 
Not  one  of  the  pursuers  had  a  heart  to  enter  and  dis- 
turb those  lovers  in  their  wretchedness,  but  quietly  sur- 
rounding the  house,  they  waited  for  him  to  emerge  and 
fly.  They  were  not  long  waiting.  The  embrace  was 
too  painful  to  be  long;  the  guilty  husband  tore  himself 
away  from  the  sheltering  arms  of  her  who  loved  him  in 
his  fall,  and  kissing  their  first-born  that  lay  in  his  place, 


13^  SAMUEL  IREN.EUS   PRIME. 

he  rushed  once  more  from  the  home  he  had  cursed, 
and  which  he  should  never  enter  again.  They  arrested 
him  but  a  few  steps  from  the  door,  so  gently  that  she 
knew  nothing  of  it,  and  conducted  him  back  to  his 
confinement. 

Again  he  managed  to  escape,  and  fearing  to  repeat 
his  visit,  he  fled  to  the  mountains.  They  tracked  him 
first  through  a  hght  snow  that  had  fallen,  but  he  eluded 
pursuit  for  some  time,  wandering  in  the  woods,  some- 
times venturing  to  a  farmhouse  where  he  was  not 
known,  to  get  something  to  eat,  but  uncertain  where  to 
go  or  what  to  do.  It  seemed  to  be  a  public  duty  to 
secure  him  if  possible,  and  a  large  number  of  citizens 
turned  out  in  a  body,  and  making  diligent  search,  they 
found  him  behind  a  heap  of  rubbish  in  the  garret  of  an 
old  house  in  which  he  had  taken  refuge.  He  had  found 
already  that  the  way  of  transgressors  is  hard.  In  his 
haste  he  had  fallen  repeatedly  and  bruised  his  face 
and  hands;  he  had  suffered  terribly  from  hunger  and 
cold ;  and  when  he  was  dragged  from  his  hiding-place 
his  whole  appearance  was  so  changed  that  his  own 
acquaintance  would  scarcely  believe  that  this  was  the 
young  and  handsome  lawyer  whom  they  had  often  seen 
before. 

His  trial  came  on  and  he  had  no  defence  to  make. 
He  was  sentenced  to  the  State  prison  for  ten  years,  and 
with  a  gang  of  felons  was  taken  from  the  county  jail, 
and  transported  in  chains  to  his  solitary  cell.  His 
heart-broken  wife  returned  to  her  father's  house  to  wear 
out  her  worse  than  widowhood,  while  he  who  was  the 
author  of  her  misery  was  to  drag  out  his  years  of  pun- 
ishment in  a  gloomy  prison.  He  never  lifted  up  his 
head  after  he  entered.     Now  and  then  an  old  acquaint- 


THE   FORGER.  I  37 

ance  would  be  permitted  to  look  upon  him,  as  he  plied 
his  needle,  working  at  a  trade,  but  he  gave  no  sign  of 
recognition.  The  iron  had  entered  into  his  soul.  His 
health  sunk  under  the  load  of  ignominy  which  he  felt 
upon  him ;  and  after  five  or  six  years'  imprisonment 
he  died  a  convict  felon,  in  a  prison  hospital,  far  from 
that  young  wife  who  would  have  died  for  him,  or  with 
him.  Miserable  man !  And  such  an  end  !  Yet  such 
is  the  misery,  the  interlinking  misery,  that  crime  must 
bring.  How  many  hearts  are  pierced  by  that  one 
sting !  How  many  tears,  bitter,  burning  tears  of  min- 
gled grief  and  shame  did  that  one  wicked  deed  bring 
from  eyes  that  else  would  ever  have  been  lighted  with 
love  and  joy !  It  is  always  thus  with  sin.  It  has 
misery  in  its  train.  It  makes  all  the  misery  there  is  in 
this  world,  —  crushes  all  the  hearts,  blasts  all  the  hopes, 
digs  all  the  graves,  waters  them  with  tears  of  anguish, 
and  then  stretches  itself  into  the  dread  eternity,  and 
kindles  the  fires  that  feed  on  the  soul  forever  and  ever. 
Oh,  sin,  these  are  thy  victories;   these  are  thy  stings ! 


XXIX. 

MY   FIRST  GRIEF. 

Early  Friends.  —  George  Williams.  —  Seeking  a  Saviour. 
—  Death  and  Sorrow.  —  Disappointment  and  Conse- 
cration. 

HOW  widely  varied  have  been  the  paths  by  which 
those  early  friends  of  mine  have  wandered  thus 
far  through  life  !  How  many  of  those  paths  have  already 
led  to  the  grave  !  How  few  to  glory  !  There  was  one 
fine  boy  who  was  my  constant  playmate  ;  generous  and 
true,  we  loved  and  trusted  him.  He  was  the  first  one 
from  whom  I  ever  received  a  letter.  That  was  when  we 
were  yet  boys,  and  he  was  removed  to  the  city  to  be  a 
clerk  in  a  store.  That  was  thought  to  be  something 
very  great,  —  a  certain  passport  to  independence.  He 
wrote  to  me  a  few  times  while  his  heart  yet  yearned  for 
the  green  hills  and  forests  of  the  country;  but  he  found 
new  friends  and  new  pleasures  in  the  city.  He  ceased  to 
write  to  mc,  and  I  ceased  to  hear  of  him.  He  grew  to 
the  verge  of  manhood,  ran  a  brief  career  of  folly  and 
vice,  left  his  business  and  lost  his  character,  and  died  as 
a  fool  dieth.  This  was  one  ;  and  then  there  were  others 
who  have  left  the  old  town  to  be  leaders  in  the  church 
and  Ihe  State ;  and  many,  the  most  of  those  who  were 
my  companions  in  youth,  are  sober,  substantial  citizens 
and  farmers,  tilling  the  lands  their  fathers  tilled,  and 
worshipping  their  fathers'  God. 


MY   FIRST   GRIEF.  1 39 

In  the  congregation  that  joined  upon  ours,  but  at  the 
distance  of  several  miles,  lived  a  youth  whom  I  tenderly 
loved.  I  have  never  known  any  love  of  the  same  sort 
since  he  left  me.  We  were  boys  at  school  together 
when  we  first  became  acquainted,  and  both  being  of 
the  same  age,  with  similar  tastes  and  pursuits,  it  was  not 
strange  that  we  should  be  bound  to  each  other  with  an  ab- 
sorbing devotion,  such  as  is  not  felt  when  the  coldness 
and  cares  of  the  world  steal  around  our  hearts.  George 
Williams  was  a  manly  boy.  He  was  always  known 
among  his  classmates  as  above  everything  mean  or  low ; 
despising  such  things  for  their  own  sake,  and  seeking  to 
be  known  and  loved  as  a  boy  of  honor.  We  studied 
many  of  our  lessons  together,  and  both  being  fond  of 
the  Latin  and  Greek,  we  found  mutual,  and  often  intense 
delight  in  detecting  and  admiring  the  beauties  which 
these  classics  unfolded  to  our  young  eyes.  But  this  was 
not  the  true  secret  of  our  attachment. 

We  were  both  away  from  home,  at  college,  neither  of 
us  yet  seventeen  years  old,  when  we  simultaneously  set 
out  to  seek  the  Saviour.  Often  did  we  meet,  and  kneel- 
ing down  by  the  same  chair,  we  poured  out  our  hearts 
in  prayer ;  and  many  were  the  vows  we  made  together 
that  if  God  should  pardon  our  sins,  we  would  conse- 
crate ourselves  forever  to  his  service,  and  live  to  his 
glory.  Those  hours  of  deep  distress,  when  we  seemed 
to  be  cast  off  of  God,  and  we  had  not  our  parents  near 
us  to  whom  we  could  go  with  our  load  of  grief,  those 
hours  drew  us  closely  to  each  other's  hearts.  There  we 
could  unburthen  our  souls,  compare  our  emotions,  pray 
for  one  another,  and  thus  gather  encouragement  to  per- 
severe in  seeking  eternal  life  through  Christ.  We  found 
peace  very  nearly  at  the  same  time,  and  in  all  the  ardor 


I40  SAMUEL   IREN/F.US    PRIME. 

of  new  love  we  devoted  our  whole  souls  to  God.  It 
seemed  as  if  this  were  the  very  beginning  of  our  attach- 
ment,—  so  new,  so  deep,  so  joyous  were  the  emotions 
that  swelled  our  hearts  when  we  entered  the  way  to 
heaven,  and  together  sought  and  found  those  pleas- 
ures which  ripen  only  under  the  sunlight  of  the  Divine 
eye. 

A  few  months  after  this,  and  while  we  were  yet  in  the 
ardor  of  new  converts'  love,  we  returned  to  our  respec- 
tive homes  to  spend  a  vacation  of  four  weeks.  One 
morning  I  was  walking  out  with  a  friend  about  sunrise, 
and  as  we  were  passing  along  the  street  he  left  me  for 
a  moment  to  speak  to  a  gentleman  whom  he  recognized, 
and  who  was  travelling  by.  The  young  man  returned 
to  me,  and  we  resumed  our  walk.  In  the  course  of  a 
few  moments  he  observed  casually  that  the  gentleman 
with  whom  he  had  just  been  conversing  mentioned  to 
him  a  very  sudden  death  in  the  neighboring  town  the 
day  before.  He  said  that  a  young  man  had  been  cut 
down  after  a  few  hours*  sickness.  I  asked  if  he  men- 
tioned his  name.  "Yes,"  he  said,  "//zV  name  was  GEORGE 
Williams,"  Had  a  spear  pierced  my  heart,  the  poig- 
nancy of  the  pain  had  scarcely  been  more  acute. 
Rather,  had  a  bolt  from  heaven  fallen  on  my  head,  I 
could  not  have  been  more  stupefied.  For  a  moment  I 
reeled,  like  a  drunken  man,  and  then  partially  recover- 
ing strength,  I  put  my  ear  close  to  the  mouth  of  my 
friend,  and  asked  him  to  tell  me  what  he  had  said,  and 
fo  speak  loud,  for  I  was  not  sure  that  I  had  heard  him 
aright.  He  begged  me  to  be  calm,  and  refused  to  re- 
peat the  fact.  I  sat  down  on  the  grass,  and  in  the 
silence  of  a  desolated  heart  waited  for  the  storm  of 
passionate  grief  to  pass  by. 


MY   FIRST   GRIEF.  141 

More  than  fifty  years  have  crept  by  since  that  morn- 
ing, and  yet  I  feel  this  moment  something  of  the 
smothering  sensations  of  that  hour.  The  sun  was  just 
chmbing  in  the  east;  but  it  was  dark,  very  dark;  and 
the  whole  face  of  nature,  a  moment  before  smiling  in 
the  charm  of  a  summer  morning,  was  hung  with  black. 
I  went  home,  and  rushed  to  my  parents'  chamber,  and 
throwing  myself  across  their  feet  as  they  lay  in  bed,  I 
sobbed  out  (tears  then  first  coming  to  my  relief), 
''George  Williams  is  dead!''  In  an  instant  they  com- 
prehended the  power  of  my  grief,  and  rising  from  the 
pillows,  threw  their  arms  around  me,  and  we  all  wept 
together,  —  I  for  my  Jonathan  whom  I  had  lost,  and 
they  in  sympathy  with  me  and  the  parents  who  had  lost 
their  boy.  In  the  course  of  the  day  I  went  up  to  the 
funeral,  and  stood  petrified  with  sorrow  over  the  re- 
mains of  my  dearest  friend.  He  was  buried.  Night 
after  night  he  came  to  me  in  my  dreams,  sometimes  as 
in  the  days  of  our  youthful  love,  and  there  was  nothing 
to  remind  me  that  he  was  not  as  in  days  that  were  past ; 
and  again  he  would  come  to  me  all  clothed  in  white,  an 
angel  from  the  skies,  and  would  beckon  me  to  follow 
him ;  and  touching  the  strings  of  a  little  harp  of  gold 
that  he  held  in  his  hand,  as  the  gentle  music  fell  like  the 
light  of  heaven  on  my  ravished  ear,  he  would  spread  his 
wings  and  vanish  into  thin  air.  Often  after  such  meet- 
ings and  partings  I  waked  and  found  my  pillow  drenched 
in  tears.  This  was  my  first  grief.  It  is  easy  to  see  that 
my  mind  was  quite  unprepared  for  such  a  blow,  and 
that  the  loss  even  of  such  a  friend  nozv  might  be  borne 
with  more  composure.  There  was  no  manliness  in  that 
sorrow.  But  it  was  good  for  me.  Oh,  how  vain  the 
world  seemed  to  me  from  that  date  !     It  was  an  epoch  in 


142  SAMUEL    IREN/tUS    PRIME. 

my  life.  I  felt  that  everything  my  heart  was  set  on  here 
was  so  uncertain  that  I  would  live  for  God  and  heaven. 
And  then,  in  my  folly,  I  thought  I  would  never  love 
anybody  again,  for  fear  they,  too,  would  die.  How  soon 
I  got  over  that,  it  is  needless  to  write.  This  tale  of 
boyish  love  and  sorrow  will  be  read  with  various  emo- 
tions according  to  the  tastes  of  those  who  read.  Some 
few  will  understand  when  I  say  that  it  severed  the  cords 
that  bound  me  to  earthly  love,  and  led  me  to  consecrate 
every  faculty  to  the  service  of  the  Redeemer. 


XXX. 

ECCENTRIC    CHARACTERS. 
Fishing  Billy.  —  Salem  Jail. —  Dr.  Bethune. — John 

DUNIHUE. 

IN  almost  every  country  town  there  might  be  found 
one  man  at  least,  and  sometimes  several,  who  take 
the  world  so  easily  that  they  never  give  themselves  any 
trouble  as  to  what  they  and  their  family  shall  eat  or 
drink.  This  indifference  they  carry  to  such  an  extent 
that  they  use  no  means  to  provide  for  their  daily  wants. 
Now  where  a  simple-hearted  trust  in  Providence  is  fol- 
lowed up  by  diligent  industry,  we  are  always  pleased 
to  see  it,  but  in  the  case  of  Fishing  Billy,  the  careless- 
ness about  this  world  did  not  appear  to  be  so  much  the 
result  of  trust  in  Providence  as  of  such  a  passion  for 
fishing  that  for  the  sake  of  it  he  neglected  everything 
else,  and  lost  his  property  while  he  caught  trout.  He 
inherited  a  handsome  farm  and  a  beautiful  house,  and 
around  him  bloomed  one  of  the  loveliest  families  in  all 
our  town.  His  wife  was  a  sweet  woman,  his  daughters 
were  very  pretty,  and  he  had  a  fine  boy  of  my  own  age ; 
and  with  such  a  family  one  would  think  that  he  had 
motive  enough  for  diligence  in  business  to  keep  them 
in  respectable  circumstances,  if  he  had  no  desire  to  add 
to  his  possessions.  But  Billy  was  one  of  those  good, 
easy  souls,  who  think  that  everything  will  take  care  of 
itself,  and  there  is  no  need  of  his  taking  trouble  about 


144  SAMUEL   IREN.'EUS   PRIME. 

it.  He  took  to  fishing;  and  though  fond  of  the  water, 
he  drank  but  very  little  of  it  unless  it  was  mixed 
with  something  stronger.  Yet  he  never  drank  to  ex- 
cess, according  to  the  pattern  of  those  da\'s.  He  was  a 
sober  man,  and  everybody  liked  him.  He  would  go 
far  and  stay  long  to  do  any  one  a  good  turn ;  and  if 
he  heard  of  any  one  being  sick  to  whom  a  nice  trout 
would  be  a  delicacy,  Fishing  Billy,  as  he  was  univer- 
sally called,  was  sure  to  hear  of  it  and  supply  the  article, 
—  with  such  readiness,  too,  that  it  was  plain  he  found 
more  pleasure  in  giving  than  receiving.  I  can  see  him 
now,  creeping  stealthily  down  the  beautiful  brook  that 
meandered  through  the  meadows  near  my  father's 
house,  with  his  fish-basket  hanging  at  his  back,  a 
smashed  hat  on  his  head,  and  a  trim  pole  on  his  hand ; 
pursuing  his  prey  with  an  earnest  but  quiet  enthusiasm 
that  Izaak  Walton  may  have  attained,  and  with  a  skill  in 
the  use  of  the  fly  that  the  old  master  of  the  piscatory  art 
would  have  envied  had  he  followed  him,  as  I  have  many 
a  livelong  day,  to  see  the  speckled,  beautiful  trout  leap 
from  the  swift  stream  and  catch  its  barbed  hook  as  if 
they  were  glad  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  Fishing  Billy. 
He  took  to  me,  and  I  took  to  him,  and  we  both  took  to 
fishing;  and  if  I  could  have  had  my  own  wa)'  about  it, 
I  should,  in  all  probability,  have  given  up  my  time  to 
it  and  been  a  fisherman,  but  my  good  parents  had  sense 
enough  to  order  otherwise,  and  I  was  saved  from  float- 
ing down  stream  with  my  lazy  friend.  Fishing  Billy  was 
a  man  of  property,  and  in  his  way  very  religious.  When 
he  came  into  possession  of  a  handsome  house  and  farm 
of  his  own,  he  said  he  thanked  God  for  it;  and  when 
he  let  his  fields  lie  untillod,  or  his  crops  waste  for  want 
of  attention,  and  one  ycAx  after  another  his  possessions 


ECCENTRIC  CHARACTERS.  I45 

slipped  away  from  him  by  his  inattention,  and  he  was 
at  last  compelled  to  see  his  fair  acres  passing  out  of  his 
hands,  while  he  sought  a  home  for  his  family  in  a  little 
dwelling  that  a  few  years  before  they  would  never  have 
dreamed  of  occupying,  even  then  did  this  easy  soul  lift 
up  his  eyes  to  heaven  and  say,  "Blessed  be  nothing." 
And,  verily,  that  was  about  all  he  had.  He  finally  tried 
to  turn  his  fishing  to  some  account  in  the  way  of  sup- 
porting his  family,  and  by  driving  a  little  business  in 
the  line  of  fishing-tackle,  he  did  contrive  to  earn  a  trifle. 
But  that  was  all ;  he  would  often  go  off  for  weeks  to- 
gether on  fishing  excursions,  managing  perhaps  to  sup- 
port himself  while  he  was  gone  by  his  favorite  pursuit, 
but  leaving  his  family  to  look  out  for  themselves.  So 
he  lived,  and  so  he  died.  This  friend  of  my  boyhood 
was  often  in  trouble  on  account  of  debts ;  and  in  those 
days  if  a  man  did  not  pay  his  debts  he  was  liable  to  be 
sent  to  jail.  But  he  would  be  allowed  the  limits,  which 
included  an  area  of  a  mile  in  every  direction  from  the 
prison.  When  Billy  was  thus  detained  by  his  creditors, 
it  was  his  custom  to  take  his  fishing-tackle  with  him 
and  to  whip  the  streams  within  the  limits. 

The  jail  was  in  the  village  of  Salem.  In  that  village 
was  an  academy  of  which  Mr.  Williams,  of  whose  son 
George  I  have  written,  was  the  principal.  George  W. 
Bethune,  afterwards  the  accomplished  and  eloquent 
divine,  was  a  pupil  in  this  Salem  Academy,  twelve  miles 
north  of  Cambridge.  He  fell  in  with  Billy,  who  gave 
him  lessons  in  the  science  and  art  of  angling,  as  they 
followed  the  meadow  streams  in  Salem.  And  so  it  came 
to  pass  that  Billy  was  Dr.  Bethune's  piscatory  tutor 
while  in  jail,  and  mine  when  he  was  out.  I  got  over  my 
early  passion  for  fishing.     Dr.  Bethuae  never  recovered. 


146  SAMUEL   IKENVEUS   PRIME. 

His  library  of  books  on  this  subject,  and  his  own  works, 
now  classic,  are  proof  of  the  enduring  nature  of  his 
first  love. 

A  few  months  before  Dr.  Bethune  went  away  to  die 
in  Italy  I  asked  him  how  he  came  to  be  so  fond  of  fish- 
ing, —  for  I  knew  he  spent  his  vacation  annually  with  his 
rod  in  hand  among  the  streams  of  the  North.  He  told 
me  this  story  of  his  early  association  with  Fishing  Billy. 
I  told  Dr.  Bethune  of  my  own  early  experiences,  and  we 
followed  out  the  coincidences  with  great  interest. 

John  Dunihue  was  another  character  in  Cambridge. 
He  ran  through  a  handsome  property,  and  became  par- 
tially insane  by  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors.  He  was 
not  a  beastly  drunkard,  but  being  fond  of  the  tavern,  he 
neglected  his  farm,  and  his  property  gradually  slipped 
away  from  him,  till  he  finally  became  a  crazy  vagabond, 
roaming  over  the  country.  In  the  days  of  his  prosper- 
ity, when  the  fatal  habit  was  gradually  fastening  itself 
upon  him,  he  was  an  attendant  upon  church  at  the 
Old  White  Meeting-house,  and  a  great  friend  of  my 
father.  But  he  would  often  display  his  eccentricities  in 
the  church,  to  the  amusement  of  the  young,  and  the 
discomfort  of  the  old.  One  Sabbath  afternoon  a  young 
man  was  to  preach,  and  as  he  rose  to  commence  his 
sermon,  Dunihue  rose  in  one  of  the  gallery  pews  and 
leaned  forward.  He  was  a  tall,  fine  looking,  white- 
haired  old  man,  and  clapping  his  hand  up  to  his  ear, 
reached  his  head  out  toward  the  preacher.  My  father, 
sitting  in  the  pulpit,  said:  "Mr.  Dunihue,  will  you 
please  to  sit  down?"  He  replied  instantly:  "  I  am  a 
little  hard  of  hearing,  and  I  want  to  hear  the  text."  My 
father  repeated  the  request  and  received  the  same  an- 
swer.    ^W  this  time  the  boys  were  in  a  general  titter. 


ECCENTRIC  CHARACTERS.  147 

and  the  whole  congregation  excited.  My  father  spoke 
with  his  tremendous  voice,  and  said,  "  Mr.  Dunihue, 
SIT  down!  "  The  old  man  turned  around,  and  taking 
his  hat,  marched  out  of  the  pew  toward  the  door,  and 
just  before  leaving,  turned  to  the  pulpit,   and   shaking 

his  fist  at  my  father,  exclaimed  :      "  I  don't  care  a 

for  you,  or  any  of  your  journeymen  soul-savers  either!  " 
and  so  saying,  left  the  house.  When  he  came  to  him- 
self he  was  mortified  by  the  recollection  of  his  conduct, 
and  sent  a  load  of  wood  to  my  father  as  a  present,  and 
an  apology.  The  profanity  was  horrible,  but  I  never 
before  or  since  heard  a  young  divine  called  by  the 
name  which  this  crazy  man  suddenly  invented.  I  do 
not  know  where  or  when  he  died.  Before  we  left  Cam- 
bridge he  became  almost  a  beggar,  and  would  be  absent 
from  the  place  weeks  and  months  at  a  time.  He  made 
very  long  journeys,  on  foot  for  the  most  part,  some- 
times (as  I  have  been  told)  taking  a  seat  in  a  stage- 
coach unknown  to  the  driver,  just  as  it  was  starting,  and 
riding  a  few  miles,  until  discovered,  and  then  by  his  wit 
succeeding  in  getting  his  ride  extended,  or  if  not,  taking 
to  his  feet. 

Years  afterwards,  when  I  was  pastor  at  Ballston  Spa, 
he  met  me  in  the  main  street  of  the  village,  recognized 
me  at  once,  and  taking  off  his  hat,  fell  on  his  knees  at 
my  feet,  and  with  great  feeling,  said,  "  I  wish  to  pay 
my  respects  to  the  son  of  my  venerable  friend." 

These  recollections  of  my  childhood  are  not  given 
with  any  regard  to  dates,  and  I  have  no  means  of  ar- 
ranging them  accurately.  They  will  be  jotted  down 
just  as  they  recur  to  mind,  even  in  the  records  of  later 
years. 


XXXI. 
PREPARING   FOR   COLLEGE. 

Preaching    and    Teaching.  —  The    Pine    Fore<5t. —  Early 
Aspirations.  —  Middleburv  College   Co.mmence.ment. 

AS  I  related  in  an  early  letter  of  this  series,  when  I 
became  eight  years  of  age  my  father  asked  my 
older  brother  and  myself  if  we  would  like  to  study 
Latin.  We  both  expressed  a  desire  to  do  so,  and  being 
furnished  with  a  grammar  we  began  at  once,  learning  a 
lesson  at  night  and  morning,  while  we  still  pursued  our 
usual  studies  at  school.  This  cut  us  off  from  much  of 
our  time  for  fishing  and  play,  but  when  winter  evenings 
came  we  had  more  leisure,  and  we  kept  steadily  on.  I 
think  that  my  father  never  appreciated  the  importance 
of  regular  and  abundant  physical  exercise  for  his  chil- 
dren. We  were  fond  of  playing  ball  and  all  sorts  of 
athletic  games,  in  which  he  freely  joined  us,  but  I  have 
no  recollections  of  his  ever  speaking  to  us  of  the  need 
of  it  for  our  health,  and  I  know  that  he  required  of  us 
so  much  study  that  my  mind  was  never  at  rest  night  or 
day.  This  was  a  wretched  beginning,  and  the  ill  effects 
of  it  are  now  daily  suffered.  After  we  had  studied  Latin 
in  this  way  out  of  school,  we  began  to  go  to  the  acad- 
emy and  to  devote  our  whole  time  to  classical  books. 
My  father  was  now  the  Principal  of  the  academy  of 
Cambridge,    and    this   fact   makes   it   necessary  to    say 


PREPARING   FOR   COLLEGE.  149 

something  of  the  reasons  that  brought  him  from  the 
pulpit  to  the  school-room.  He  had  around  him  a  large 
family  of  sons  and  daughters.  Being  a  man  of  finished 
classical  education,  and  the  son  of  an  accomplished 
scholar,  it  was  his  ardent  desire  to  give  a  thorough  educa- 
tion to  all  his  children.  His  salary  as  a  pastor  was  never 
more  than  six  hundred  dollars  a  year,  and  this  was  paid 
partly  in  money,  and  partly  in  wood,  butter,  oats,  hay, 
etc  ,  —  food  for  man  and  beast.  Out  of  this  he  had  to 
pay  house  rent,  and  clothe  and  feed  his  family.  But  the 
pulpit  was  his  pldce,  and  he  loved  to  preach.  At  this 
time,  when  his  mind  was  greatly  perplexed  as  to  the 
future  of  his  children,  there  arose  a  dissension  in  the 
church  that  made  his  situation  uncomfortable,  and  it 
seemed  as  if  Providence  had  so  arranged  matters  for 
him  that  he  should  be  invited  to  take  charge  of  the 
academy  when  it  was  less  inviting  for  him  in  his  con- 
gregation. The  two  things  worked  together  to  make  it 
desirable  for  him  to  resign  the  pulpit  and  enter  the  school. 
In  this  calling  he  was  eminently  successful  and  greatly 
useful.  To  his  two  daughters  he  gave  as  complete  and 
finished  educations  as  the  best  schools  and  teachers 
could  give ;  and  to  his  five  sons  he  gave  thorough  colle- 
giate educations,  —  two  at  Williams  College,  two  at  Union, 
and  one  at  Princeton.  One  of  these  died  while  a  mem- 
ber of  Union  College,  but  all  the  rest  studied  profes- 
sions ;  one  became  a  physician,  two  clergymen,  and  one 
a  lawyer.  My  father  lived  to  see  them  all  settled  in 
life  and  successful  in  their  several  callings. 

He  was  a  thorough  scholar  and  teacher.  Accurate  in 
the  minutest  niceties  of  the  Latin  and  Greek,  he  in- 
sisted on  the  most  thorough  apprehension  by  the  stu- 
dent of  the  why  and  wherefore  of  everything ;   making 


150  SAMUEL   IREN.EUS    I'KI.ME. 

the  prosody  especially  a  severe  yet  attractive  study,  and 
leaving  no  root  of  any  word  without  diggini^  it  out.  He 
infused  his  own  enthusiastic  admiration  of  the  languages 
into  the  minds  of  his  pupils,  and  classical  study  in  his 
school  was  a  passion,  a  pride  and  pleasure,  pursued  for 
its  own  sake,  with  ardor  rarely  found  among  the  young 
in  the  early  stages  of  education. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  the  house  we  lived  in  was, 
and  still  is,  a  forest  of  pines,  a  dense  grove  of  stately, 
solemn  trees,  in  which  we  children  were  often  wander- 
ing to  pick  wintcrgrcen  berries,  to  chase  squirrels,  and 
to  enjoy  the  dense,  cool  shades.  In  this  grove  I  loved 
to  sit  and  muse.  In  childhood  the  sighing  of  the  wind 
through  the  pines  had  a  subduing  power;  and  this  was 
long  before  I  read  the  words  of  the  poet  Coleridge  — 

"  Ye  pine  groves,  with  your  soft,  and  soul-like  sound." 

Here  I  had  turns  of  thought,  —  when  I  longed  to  be  a 
man,  that  I  might  be  and  do  something;  what,  I  did  not 
distinctly  see,  though  I  never  knew  the  time  after  com- 
ing to  a  reflective  period  of  life  when  I  did  not  intend 
to  be  a  minister  of  the  gospel.  In  the  retirement  of  a 
deeply  secluded  parish,  and  in  the  years  of  early  child- 
hood when  my  mind  ought  to  have  been  on  my  books 
or  play,  I  was  studying  the  map  of  the  future,  and  laying 
out  work  for  manhood  and  age.  My  longings  were 
intense  to  be  a  man.  It  seemed  as  if  boys  were  of  no 
account,  could  be  and  do  nothing,  and  I  must  wear  the 
bonds  of  a  long  and  idle  apprenticeship  until  I  could 
take  a  place  among  men.  This  irksome  feeling  was 
doubtless  produced  b}-  frequent  intercourse  with  minis- 
ters visiting  at  my  father's  house,  whose  conversation  I 


PREPARING    FOR    COLLEGE.  151 

eagerly  listened  to,  longing  and  begging  to  be  allowed 
to  sit  up  later  than  the  usual  bedtime,  to  devour  every 
word  they  said,  though  they  rarely  conversed  on  any- 
thing besides  the  great  events  of  the  day,  or  more  fre- 
quently on  theological  topics  in  which  a  child  might  be 
supposed  to  take  no  interest.  From  1812,  the  year  of 
my  birth,  to  1826,  when  I  went  to  college,  were  eventful 
years  in  American  and  European  history.  Our  war 
with  Great  Britain,  peace,  and  its  fruits  ;  Waterloo,  peace, 
and  its  fruits  in  Europe,  —  all  of  these  were  the  current 
events  of  those  years  of  the  world. 

Before  I  was  twelve  years  old  I  was  fitted  for  college, 
and  the  class  in  the  academy  in  which  I  was  studying 
entered.  My  father  very  wisely  judged  that  I  was  too 
young,  and  withheld  me,  though  he  was  then  a  trustee 
of  Middlebury  College,  and  my  cousin,  James  B.  Jer- 
main,  with  whom  I  had  pursued  the  same  studies, 
entered  the  freshman  class  at  that  time.  I  went  to 
Commencement  with  him  when  he  entered.  We  stayed 
at  the  President's,  Dr.  Bates,  and  I  became  greatly  ex- 
cited with  the  idea  of  college,  and  the  life  of  a  scholar. 
But  my  years  were  too  few  for  a  beginning  in  that 
career,  and  we  came  back  to  Cambridge.  I  resumed 
my  course  of  study  at  the  academy,  with  higher  and 
more  definite  aims  than  I  had  ever  had.  Hitherto  I 
had  scarcely  formed  a  purpose  that  had  a  distinct  shape 
beyond  the  general  idea  of  "  being  a  minister,"  which  I 
was  in  the  habit  of  giving  as  the  answer  to  the  question 
that  every  stranger  coming  to  our  house  was  wont  to 
ask  me,  "  What  are  you  going  to  be?  "  But  at  the  Col- 
lege Commencement  I  saw  the  distinguished  men  on  the 
stage,  and  at  the  President's  house.  They  spoke  to  me 
and  some  of  them  charged  me  to  study  and  live  to  be  a 


152  SAMUEL   IREN^US   PRIME. 

learned  and  useful  man.  My  ambition  was  fired  by  this 
visit  more  than  by  any  event  of  my  previous  life.  I  felt 
it  lone;  afterwards,  though  I  never  had  occasion  to  speak 
of  it,  for  the  feelings  it  awakened  were  onl)'  to  be  cher- 
ished and  pondered  in  the  heart. 


XXXII. 

THE   FARM   AND   FARMER. 

The   Parsonage  Farm. — Annual  Visits.  —  Codfish- 
Balls. —  Elder  Warner.  —  School  Examined. 

THE  year  after  our  visit  to  Middlebury,  the  con- 
gregation to  which  my  father  was  still  preaching 
bought  a  parsonage-house  and  about  ten  acres  of  land, 
and  we  "  moved  "  from  the  home  of  our  infancy  to  the 
new  place.  The  land  required  labor.  We  boys  were 
old  enough  to  work,  and  work  we  did.  We  had  pre- 
viously been  accustomed  to  the  care  of  the  horse,  but 
now  we  went  into  the  field  and  worked  hard,  making 
hay,  planting  and  hoeing  corn,  and  doing  anything  and 
everything,  though  on  a  limited  scale,  that  belonged  to 
a  very  small  farm.  Perhaps  this  was  good  for  the 
health,  but  it  went  against  the  grain,  and  brought  very 
little  grain  or  good  of  any  kind.  It  was  very  irksome, 
and  my  younger  brother  Edward  and  I  sometimes 
talked  of  running  away  to  get  rid  of  work,  and  give  all 
our  time  to  study.  Such  foolish  plans  would  fill  our 
heads  when  we  could  not  have  our  own  way.  Yet  the 
year  or  two  that  we  spent  in  that  life  of  labor  and  study, 
for  the  two  alternated,  was  perhaps  as  useful  as  any 
other  period.  I  have  often  had  occasion  to  make  prac- 
tical use  of  what  I  learned  in  the  field  and  the  barn,  and 
I  should  not  have  learned  it  at  all  but  for  the  experience 
of  those  months  of  toil  on  the  parsonage-farm. 


154  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS    I'KIME. 

Nearly  all  the  men  of  my  father's  congregation,  as  I 
have  already  said,  were  farmers,  and  we  were  in  the 
habit  of  visiting  them  frequently.  At  some  of  their 
houses  we  were  expected  to  make  an  annual  visit. 
Thus  we  always  went  to  Joseph  Stewart's  when  chest- 
nuts were  ripe,  and  had  a  grand  time  getting  a  supply 
for  winter.  In  the  same  way  we  went  to  Seymour 
King's  in  cherry  time.  These  visits  were  great  events, 
and  they  had  the  good  effect  of  bringing  us  into  close 
acquaintance  with  the  life  of  farming-people,  and  mak- 
ing us  familiar,  too,  with  the  way  to  go  up  and  down 
trees,  in  which  we  became  exceedingly  expert.  Old 
Uncle  Daniel  Wells  was  a  great  friend  of  mine,  and  I 
was  in  the  habit  of  spending  a  week  or  two  at  his  house 
every  winter.  The  old  gentleman  had  been  a  Revolu- 
tionary soldier,  and  was  now  a  farmer  with  a  large 
family  around  him,  all  of  whom  made  a  pet  of  me. 
The  old  man  told  me  the  same  stories  every  winter, 
forgetting  that  he  had  told  them  to  me  before,  but  I 
laughed  in  the  same  spots,  and  just  as  heartily  one  year 
as  another.  In  these  visits  I  saw  a  great  deal  of  farm- 
ing-life, and  in  all  my  future  experience  in  city  or 
country,  at  home  or  in  foreign  lands,  the  benefit  of  that 
intercourse  with  the  farmers  of  old  Cambridge  has  been 
felt  and  valued. 

In  childhood  I  became  disgusted,  I  do  not  know  how 
or  why,  with  salt  codfish,  so  that  I  never  ate  it  in  any 
shape  or  form.  While  all  the  other  children  were  fond 
of  it,  and  we  usually  had  it  once  a  week,  I  would  eat 
bread  and  butter  for  my  dinner  rather  than  take  this 
dish.  Only  twice  in  my  life  have  I  partaken  of  it,  and 
to  tell  the  story  I  have  introduced  this  trivial  matter. 
When  in  the  south  nf  Ital)-  I  was  hospitably  entertained 


THE   FARM   AND    FARMER.  155 

by  a  distinguished  American  resident,  the  representative 
of  our  Government.  One  morning  at  breakfast  he  said 
to  me,  "  We  have  a  genuine  American  dish  for  you  this 
morning ;  let  me  give  you  a  codfish-ball."  It  was  too  bad 
to  decline  under  such  circumstances,  and  I  ate  the  ball. 
A  few  years  afterwards  I  was  invited  by  the  President 
of  the  United  States  to  be  his  guest  at  the  White  House. 
On  Sunday  morning  at  breakfast  he  said  to  me,  "We 
have  a  national  dish  this  morning;  let  me  give  you  a 
codfish-ball."  Again  with  a  firm  face  I  submitted  to 
my  fate,  and  accepted  the  situation. 

Elder  Warner  was  a  favorite  with  us  children.  At  a 
singing-school,  attended  by  a  hundred  people,  mostly 
the  young,  we  had  to  choose  a  chorister.  The  chief 
singer  was  a  blacksmith,  who  usually  led  in  church,  and 
who  supposed,  as  did  the  school,  that  he  would,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  be  elected.  The  vote  was  taken  by 
calling' on  each  person  to  name  the  person  he  voted 
for.  The  first  six  or  eight  voted  "  Alpheus  Rice,"  the 
blacksmith.  It  came  to  my  younger  brother  Edward 
to  vote,  and  he  said  in  a  low  tone,  "  Mr.  Warner." 
"Who?"  inquired  the  clerk.  "  Kirtland  Warner,"  the 
boy  cried  out.  And  the  next  one  said  "  Kirtland 
Warner,"  and  the  next,  and  it  went  through  the  school 
with  a  rush,  and  a  man  whom  no  one  had  thought  of 
for  a  chorister  was  triumphantly  chosen.  He  was  a 
fair  singer  and  made  a  good  leader. 

When  I  was  not  more  than  a  dozen  years  old  I  had 
an  argument  with  this  good  elder  on  the  doctrine  of 
election,  as  taught  in  the  Calvinistic  books.  He  said  it 
was  clearly  taught  in  the  Bible,  but  he  did  not  pretend 
to  understand  all  the  deep  things  of  God.  It  was 
enough  to  know  that  man  is  perfectly  free  in  his  will  to 


156  SAMUEI>    IREN/EUS    PRIME. 

do  or  not  do,  while  it  is  also  true  that  God  has  fore- 
ordained whatsoever  comes  to  pass.  I  said  to  him,  in 
the  words  of  a  child,  something  like  this  :  "  There  is  no 
past  or  future  with  God ;  it  is  now  with  him  always. 
He  sees  the  future  of  our  lives  just  as  if  our  history 
were  all  written  out,  or  acted  out  before  him ;  and  so  of 
the  whole  world,  earth,  heaven,  and  hell.  Eternity  is 
now  present  with  him.  When  he  speaks  of  decrees,  or 
foreordination,  or  predestination  he  employs  words  to 
meet  our  conceptions  of  the  future,  but  not  his  own, 
for  there  is  no  future  with  God.  This  makes  it  easy  to 
understand  how  the  creature  is  perfectly  free  to  do, 
or  not  to  do,  as  he  chooses,  while  in  the  presence  of  God 
his  conduct,  its  consequences,  and  even  its  eternal  issues 
are  all  not  only  fixed,  but  absolutely  present  as  a  thing 
done  in  the  sight." 

The  table  near  which  he  was  sitting  and  I  w'as  stand- 
ing when  making  the  argument  is  as  distinctly  before 
my  mind  this  moment  as  if  the  scene  had  transpired  but 
a  year  ago.  The  old  man  seemed  to  be  lost  in  a  sort 
of  maze  when  I  finished.  Perhaps  he  thought  it  was 
childish  nonsense,  but  I  thought  he  was  pleased  with 
the  manner  in  which  I  had  reasoned  the  matter,  for 
after  a  little  he  spoke  very  kindly  to  me,  and  said  it 
was  clearer  to  him  than   it  used  to  be. 

It  was  not  unusual  for  me  at  that  age,  and  even  pre- 
viously, to  mingle  in  things  that  would  now  be  regarded 
•'  too  high  "  for  children,  and  when  they  are  recalled 
the  circumstances  seem  strange,  though  they  were  re- 
garded as  a  matter  of  course  at  that  time. 


XXXIII. 

GOING  TO   COLLEGE. 

My  Mother's  Prayers.  —  The  Elder's  Horses.  —  The 
Dissenting  Englishman.  —  Homesick  Views.  —  Mark 
Hopkins's   Oration— Immature  Efforts. 

AFTER  his  resignation  as  pastor  of  the  church  in 
Cambridge,  my  father  continued  to  fill  the  pul- 
pit every  Sabbath  and  to  teach  the  academy  through 
the  week,  until  he  was  finally,  at  his  own  request,  re- 
leased from  his  pastoral  relations  Feb.  27,  1828. 

Although  his  school  was  large,  the  price  of  tuition 
was  so  very  low  that  the  income  was  small,  and  it  was 
impracticable  for  my  parents  with  a  large  family  to  do 
much  more  than  to  make  both  ends  of  the  year  meet. 
My  oldest  sister  was  sent  to  a  boarding-school  at  Troy, 
one  of  the  best  and  most  expensive,  and  this  required 
rigid  economy.  My  brother  and  I  went  on  with  our 
studies  in  the  academy  until  in  the  summer  of  1826  we 
went  to  Williamstown,  Mass.,  to  be  examined  for  ad- 
mission to  the  college.  My  father  had  determined  to 
send  us  there  instead  of  to  Middlebury,  as  it  was  only 
twenty-six  miles  from  home,  and  the  expenses  of  travel- 
ling back  and  forth  for  two  of  us  would  be  much  less. 
He  resigned  his  trusteeship  at  Middlebury  and  was 
immediately  elected  trustee  of  Williams.  I  was  very 
small  of  my  age,  and  not  yet  quite  fourteen  when  I 
entered.  At  Commencement  every  one  with  whom 
I  became  acquainted  asked  me  my  age,  and  nearly  all 


158  SAMUEL   IRExV^US    PRIME. 

added  their  apprehension  that  I  was  too  young  to  go  to 
college.  I  thought  so,  too,  and  think  so  now  more 
decidedly  than  I  did  then,  liut  the  time  had  come. 
After  my  brother  and  I  had  been  admitted  we  returned 
home  to  pass  the  vacation.  In  the  fall,  when  the  time 
came  for  us  to  begin  our  new  life  at  Williamstown,  my 
father  was  absent  at  Synod.  He  had  made  arrange- 
ments with  Elder  Kirtland  Warner  to  take  us  down  in 
his  wagon.  My  mother  fitted  us  out,  and  it  was  quite 
like  "  moving,"  for  we  had  to  take  our  own  bed  and 
bedding,  tables,  chairs,  etc.,  and  this  furniture  made 
quite  a  formidable  load.  My  mother  went  through  with 
this  business  as  quietly  as  if  she  were  doing  it  all  for 
the  children  of  other  people.  But  it  was  easy  to  see 
that  her  heart  was  full.  She  always  prayed  with  us 
when  father  was  gone,  and  her  prayers  moved  me 
deeply.  Now  she  prayed  earnestly  and  tenderly,  and 
the  quiver  of  the  lip  at  breakfast  broke  us  all  down.  I 
could  eat  nothing,  but  I  made  a  strong  resolution  never 
to  do  anything  to  grieve  that  loving  heart.  Through 
life  the  approbation  of  my  parents  has  been  one  of  the 
highest  incentives  to  energetic  effort.  Next  to  the  love 
of  God  I  think  I  have  prized  it  above  all  other  rewards 
of  diligence  and  success. 

The  Elder  carried  us  to  college  in  his  farm-wagon 
with  two  horses,  which  were  painfully  dull.  The  day 
was  warm.  We  were  sad  at  leaving  home,  little  dis- 
posed to  talk,  and  quite  regardless  of  the  beauty  of  the 
Hoosic  Valley,  through  which  our  road  lay.  But  every 
few  minutes  the  Elder  would  call  out  to  his  horses, 
"  Git  up,  ye  lazy  hounds,"  and  so  often  in  the  course 
of  the  long  day  did  he  repeat  it  that  we  kept  it  for  a 
"  call "  for  many  years  afterward. 


GOING   TO    COLLEGE.  159 

WilHamstown  is  in  the  extreme  northwestern  corner 
of  Massachusetts,  and  the  town  of  Hoosic,  in  the  State 
of  New  York,  joins  Pownal  in  Vermont,  through  which 
we  pass  into  WilHamstown,  so  that  we  rode  in  three 
States,  New  York,  Vermont  and  Massachusetts,  to  go 
twenty-six  miles  to  college  from  Cambridge.  And  for 
three  years  we  drove  over  the  same  road  six  times  every 
year.  But  the  road  never  seemed  so  long  or  dreary  as 
it  did  on  this  day  with  the  Elder  and  his  old  horses. 

In  the  West  College,  on  the  fourth  story,  northeast- 
corner  room,  we  were  placed.  Dr.  Griffin,  the  Presi- 
dent, had  at  my  father's  request  found  a  gentleman 
of  some  years  and  excellent  character  to  receive  my 
brother  and  me  as  his  room-mates.  He  was  an  Eng- 
lishman, studying  for  the  ministry,  and  an  earnest  op- 
ponent of  Episcopacy,  especially  of  the  Church  of 
England.  Being  several  years  older  than  I,  he  was  able 
to  give'  me  much  useful  information,  and  I  became  ex- 
ceedingly fond  of  listening  to  his  statements  respecting 
matters  and  things  in  England,  and  church  matters 
especially.  Not  long  after  he  left  college  he  became  a 
minister,  and  soon  an  Episcopal  minister !  He  went  to 
England  and  then  returned  to  this  country,  where  he 
was  a  useful,  respected,  and  excellent  rector  in  the 
church  which  he  taught  me  to  think  was  too  worldly  for 
a  Christian  and  too  despotic  for  a  freeman.  My  views 
underwent  a  great  change  when  I  came  to  see  for  my- 
self, but  I  have  always  considered  it  one  of  the  curious 
phases  of  human  nature  that  this  good  man,  devout, 
conscientious,  and  intelligent,  should  spend  so  much 
time  as  he  did  in  teaching  me  the  evils  of  a  system 
which  he  soon  afterward  embraced  and  loved  to  his 
dying  day. 


l60  SAMUEL   IREX.EUS    PRIME. 

Our  room  in  collcc^c  looked  out  on  the  mountains 
that  stand  round-about  the  village  as  they  do  around 
the  city  of  Jerusalem.  In  the  west  there  is  an  opening 
to  afford  an  outlet  for  the  Green  River  and  the  Iloosic, 
that  have  formed  a  junction  in  the  valley.  After  the 
sun  has  set  to  us  in  the  vale,  the  region  beyond  that 
opening  is  filled  with  a  golden  sea  of  glory,  as  if  the 
gate  of  heaven  were  there  and  open.  My  home,  old 
Cambridge,  my  parents,  sisters,  and  brothers  were  just 
beyond  that  illuminated  spot.  Day  after  day,  a  poor, 
homesick  boy  —  and  a  more  homesick  boy  scarce  ever 
was  —  I  used  to  lie  at  evening  in  the  window-seat,  or  on 
my  bed  close  by  it,  and  look  out  through  that  opening 
toward  home,  and  the  brightness  that  filled  it  was  to  me 
an  emblem  of  the  home  I  longed  for,  and  the  darkness 
settling  around  me  was  like  that  in  my  sore  heart. 

We  entered  the  Sophomore  class.  Our  examination 
had  been  very  thorough ;  it  was  conducted  by  ]\Ir. 
Tutor  Hopkins,  afterward  Mark  Hopkins,  D.  D.,  the 
distinguished  President  of  the  same  college.  At  the 
Commencement  when  we  entered  (1826)  Mr.  Hopkins 
delivered  his  Master's  oration ;  his  subject  was  "  Mys- 
tery." As  I  was  then  not  quite  fourteen  years  old,  and 
hearing  it  in  the  midst  of  a  crowd,  when  it  required  the 
closest  attention  of  a  mature  mind  to  follow  and  com- 
prehend its  scope,  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  I  would 
be  greatly  interested  in  it.  But  it  seemed  to  me  a 
wonder,  a  mighty  exhibition  of  intellectual  power,  some- 
thing so  new  to  me  that  I  did  not  know  men  could 
"write  and  speak  so."  Afterward  it  was  published  in 
"  Silliman's  Journal  of  Science,"  and  I  read  it,  but  it  did 
not  read  as  it  sounded  when  I  heard  it  from  the  stage. 

On  that  same   day  Nicholas  Murra)-,  afterward   my 


GOING   TO    COLLEGE.  l6l 

friend  "  Kirwan  "  of  the  famous  series  of  letters,  was 
graduated  and  delivered  an  oration.  When  we  met 
fifteen  years  afterward  I  supposed  it  was  the  first  time, 
till  we  compared  notes  and  found  that  he  left  Williams 
College  the  day  on  which  I  entered. 

My  brother  and  I  were  well  up  in  the  Latin  and 
Greek  languages,  and  were  prepared  to  hold  our  own 
very  easily  in  the  class.  The  study  of  the  classics  has 
been  a  hereditary  passion  in  the  family.  My  son,  Wen- 
dell Prime,  reads  the  same  copy  of  Leusden's  Greek 
Testament  {Ainstelcsdaini,  1740,  12°)  that  his  father 
read,  his  grandfather,  his  great-grandfather,  and  his 
great-great-grandfather.  Five  successive  generations 
have  had  the  identical  book.  It  has  been  rebound,  but 
the  text  is  clear  and  well-preserved.  When  Mr.  Alli- 
bone  was  preparing  his  "  Dictionary  of  Authors  "  he 
wrote  to  me  for  facts  respecting  my  grandfather,  and 
when  r  related  to  him  this  history  of  the  Greek  Testa- 
ment, he  replied  that  it  was  an  extraordinary  incident  of 
hereditary  literature,  and  asked  me  to  send  him  the  title- 
page  of  the  book,  which  I  did. 

I  was  the  youngest  student  in  the  class  and  the 
youngest  in  college,  though  I  entered  the  Sophomore 
year.  Being  very  small,  I  appeared  younger  even  than 
I  was.  But  I  was  too  young  to  be  profited  by  the 
course  as  those  were  whose  minds  were  more  mature. 
In  mathematics  it  was  out  of  the  question  for  a  boy  of 
fourteen  to  keep  pace  with  men  of  eighteen  and  twenty. 
It  would  have  been  better  for  me  all  through  college 
and  life  after,  if  I  had  worked  on  that  little  parsonage 
farm  for  a  few  years  more,  before  entering  the  lists  with 
those  more  advanced.  In  nothing  was  I  more  deficient 
than  in  the  power  of  expressing  myself  on  paper.     Jo 


1 62  SAMUEL   IREN^US   PRIME. 

write  a  decent  composition  was  with  me  an  impossibil- 
ity. I  had  been  required  to  write  at  school  and  at 
home,  but  when  my  puerile  productions  came  into  com- 
parison with  the  essays  of  older  and  better  disciplined 
men,  I  was  so  ashamed  that  I  could  scarcely  dare  to 
write  at  all. 

If  I  have  since  succeeded  in  being  useful  with  my 
pen  in  the  press,  my  early  years  and  first  attempts  gave 
no  signs  of  any  success. 


XXXIV. 

THE    COLLEGE   REVIVAL. 

The  President's  Invitation.  —  The  Social  Meeting.  — 
Dr.  Griffin's  Sermons.  —  Vain  Repetition. 

DURING  the  first  winter  of  my  college  life  at  Wil- 
liamstown  there  was  greatly  increased  attention 
to  religion.  So  far  as  I  know,  the  beginning  of  it  was 
as  follows  :  Rev.  Dr.  Griffin,  the  President,  invited  several 
of  the  students  who  had  the  last  fall  entered  college  to 
come  to  his  study.  As  we  were  together  in  the  course 
of  the-  day,  we  learned  of  one  another's  invitation,  and 
were  quite  uneasy  to  learn  the  occasion  of  it.  Had  we 
been  suspected  of  any  wrong?  Were  we  to  be  exam- 
ined in  reference  to  any  breach  of  law?  At  eight  in  the 
evening  we  were  gathered,  twelve  or  fourteen  of  us,  in 
the  President's  study.  He  received  us  with  great  urban- 
ity and  fatherly  kindness.  The  Doctor  was  a  splendid 
man  in  person,  more  than  six  feet  high,  with  a  massive 
frame  and  most  imposing  form.  He  was  punctilious  to 
a  fault  in  the  forms  of  politeness,  and  he  inculcated  a 
regard  to  manners  that  is  rarely  enforced  in  schools  of 
learning.  If  he  were  approaching  the  college,  and  a 
student  was  about  to  enter  the  door,  the  Doctor  would 
call  to  him  and  require  him  to  step  aside,  and  wait  until 
he,  the  President,  had  entered.  These  lessons  were 
good,  though  they  were  laughed  at. 


l64  SAMUEL    IREN.^iUS    PRIME. 

When  \vc  were  all  assembled  he  arranged  us  in  a 
semicircle  around  his  study,  and  took  his  seat  in  the 
centre.  "  Young  gentlemen,"  he  began,  "  I  have  in- 
vited you  to  come  and  see  me  this  evening,  because  I 
am  personally  acquainted  with  the  parents  of  all  of  you, 
and  they  are  all  my  dear  friends.  Because  I  love  them 
I  love  you,  and  desire  your  highest  good."  This  kind 
allusion  to  our  parents,  won  the  heart  of  every  boy  in 
the  room.  The  Doctor  then  went  on  to  talk  with  us  of 
the  dangers,  temptations  and  trials  of  our  college  life,  and 
to  commend  religion  as  the  great  source  of  strength  and 
safety,  as  well  as  of  peace  and  pleasure.  Beginning 
with  the  student  nearest  his  right  hand,  he  inquired  of 
each  one  as  to  his  own  feelings  on  the  subject,  and 
he  put  the  questions  in  a  form  so  general  that  we  could 
answer  them  without  embarrassment  in  the  presence  of 
one  another.  This  was  followed  by  an  appeal  so  tender, 
so  persuasive,  so  parental,  that  we  wept  with  him,  for  he 
was  given  to  tears,  and  then  we  knelt  around  him  while 
he  prayed  earnestly,  lovingly,  and  eloquently  for  us  and 
our  parents,  till  we  were  all  melted  together. 

When  we  returned  to  college,  several  of  the  young 
men  were  in  my  room,  and  we  agreed  that  we  would  all 
be  glad  to  attend  to  the  subject  of  religion  if  there 
should  be  a  general  attention,  and  the  thing  should 
become  popular.  And  it  did.  A  short  time  afterward 
a  man  fell  down  dead  on  the  college  walk,  while 
going  home  from  church.  He  was  a  healthy  farmer  in 
the  neighborhood.  The  suddenness  of  the  event  pro- 
duced a  startling  and  serious  effect  on  the  college.  Dr. 
Griffin  made  powerful  use  of  it  in  the  chapel,  impress- 
ing it  on  the  minds  of  the  students.  The  pious  students 
of  t1ie  Senior  and  Junior  classes  visited  from  room  to 


THE   COLLEGE   REVIVAL.  1 65 

room,  conversing  with  all  who  were  willing  to  hear  them. 
Hoisington  and  Hutchings,  who  afterward  went  to  India 
as  missionaries,  often  spoke  to  me,  and  so  did  others. 
Dr.  Griffin  appointed  meetings  for  conversation  with 
those  interested,  and  these  were  attended  by  large 
numbers.  The  regular  recitations  were  sometimes  sus- 
pended, and  the  time  employed  in  religious  conversation 
and  in  prayer.  The  preaching  of  the  President  was  at 
this  time  surpassingly  eloquent.  He  has  often  been 
called  the  Prince  of  Preachers.  This  is  not  due  to  him. 
He  was  too  artificial  to  be  the  most  eloquent.  His 
sermons  were  written  and  rewritten,  and  revised  and 
modified,  the  sentences  framed  with  art  and  such  rhet- 
orical balance  that  every  word  had  its  own  place.  His 
tones  of  voice  and  his  gestures  were  all  of  the  rules  of 
the  school,  and  while  he  was  one  of  the  most  eff"ective 
preachers,  probably  the  most  eloquent  preacher  I  ever 
heard,  "I  think  he  would  have  been  more  effective  had 
he  been  more  natural.  One  Sabbath  he  was  presenting 
the  perilous  condition  of  the  impenitent  sinner.  Throw- 
ing out  his  arm  and  his  open  hand  beyond  the  pulpit  he 
said :  "  There  he  lies  on  the  palm  of  the  hand  of  an 
angry  God  who  has  but  to  turn  that  hand  and  he  slides 
into  eternal  ruin."  As  he  said  this  he  turned  up  his 
hand,  and  I  moved  along  on  the  seat  involuntarily  to 
get  away  from  the  spot  where  I  seemed  to  myself  to  be 
represented  by  the  preacher. 

One  evening  during  the  revival,  I  called  on  Dr. 
Griffin,  for  my  heart  was  full,  and  I  longed  for  Christian 
counsel.  I  was  received  with  characteristic  courtesy 
and  dignity,  but  as  soon  as  I  had  named  my  errand,  Dr. 
Griffin  arose,  walked  to  the  staircase,  and  speaking  in 
an  earnest  tone  to  his  wife,  said,  "  My  dear.  Prime  sec- 


l66  SAMUEL   IREN^US   rKIMK. 

ond  is  anxious  about  the  salvation  of  his  soul,  pray  for 
him."  He  returned  to  the  room  where  I  was  sitting, 
talked  and  prayed  with  me,  and  I  shall  never  forget 
that  evening  in  Dr.  Griffin's  study,  I  heard  him  preach 
all  the  most  celebrated  discourses  which  have  been  pub- 
lished since  his  death,  and  remember  all  the  splendid 
passages  and  the  manner  in  which  he  rendered  them. 
When  the  volumes  were  published,  I  was  a  pastor,  and 
I  determined  to  give  my  people  the  great  privilege  and 
pleasure  of  hearing  these  magnificent  discourses.  Ac- 
cordingly, I  appointed  one  evening  in  a  week  for  a  meet- 
ing to  hear  them,  advertising  that  the  sermons  were  the 
most  eloquent  they  had  ever  heard  or  read.  The  people 
came,  and  I  read  one  of  the  sermons.  It  fell  cold  and 
dead  on  the  audience.  1  did  not  repeat  the  experi- 
ment. The  thunder  and  lightning  of  the  living  author's 
eloquence  were  not  put  into  the  book.  But  he  was  a 
magnificent  preacher,  a  great  orator,  a  man  to  make  a 
life-lasting  impression  on  any  one  who  heard  him. 


XXXV. 

AN   UNBELIEVING  CLASSMATE. 

Evil  Influences.  —  Promising  Abilities.  —  The  Mission- 
ary OF  Mt.  Lebanon.  —  The  Arab  School.  —  A 
Mother's  Prayer. 

TN  my  Junior  year  our  class  received  some  accessions, 
1  and  among  them  was  Simeon  Howard  Calhoun. 
He  was  older  than  almost  any  other  of  the  class,  and  a 
man  of  remarkable  character,  genius,  and  attainments. 
He  came  from  Canajoharie,  in  the  State  of  New  York; 
had  been  a  teacher  and  editor,  and  active  politician. 
With  remarkable  conversational  powers,  wonderful  facil- 
ity of  winning  the  affection  and  confidence  of  the  young, 
with  a  magnetic  influence  that  drew  them  to  him  and 
held  them  fast,  he  speedily  became  the  centre  of  a 
charmed  circle.  Wit,  frivolity,  literature,  pleasure,  the 
brightest  enjoyments  of  social  life  were  to  be  had  in  his 
room,  which  soon  became  the  rendezvous  of  a  gay, 
wild,  wicked  set  of  young  men.  At  this  time  there  were 
in  the  lower  classes  of  college  some  of  the  wickedest 
youth  whom  I  ever  knew,  taking  all  subsequent  oppor- 
tunities of  seeing  sin  into  the  statement.  Our  college 
had  obtained  a  wide  repute  for  being  a  j^vival  college. 
Parents  who  had  profligate  sons  sent  them  here  in  the 
hope  that  they  might  come  under  the  power  of  divine 
grace  and  be  saved.  It  goes  like  a  knife  to  my  heart 
to  write  that  I  fell  into  this  circle,  in  my  admiration  of 


l68  SAML'LL    IREN'yliUS    TRIME. 

Calhoun.  lie  petted  me.  I  was  often  sitting  on  his 
lap.  I  was  delighted  with  the  entertaining  conversation 
that  was  always  going  on  in  his  company.  But  I  heard 
wicked  expressions  that  now  chill  my  blood  and  which 
I  would  gladly  forget  forever.  Calhoun  did  not  use 
profane  or  vulgar  language  in  my  hearing.  But  he  en- 
couraged grossly  wicked  con\'ersation,  and  the  whole 
influence  of  his  association  with  me  was  deleterious, 
destructive  of  religious  life,  and  suggestive  of  infidelity. 
At  one  time  he  professed  to  be  deeply  serious,  but  it 
afterwards  proved  to  be  a  mere  pretence  of  his  to  draw 
the  professors  of  religion  into  conversation  with  him 
that  he  might  afterward  make  sport  of  them.  His  in- 
fluence became  pervading,  so  that  he  was  a  power  in 
the  college,  feared  by  some,  abhorred  by  others,  admired 
by  many,  and  loved  by  a  few.  I  was  among  the  latter 
for  many  months.  In  the  course  of  our  Senior  year 
his  influence  was  abated  in  consequence  of  his  being 
charged  with  some  delinquency  in  a  literary  society,  for 
which  he  w^as  publicly  censured,  and  he  left  college  for 
a  little  while,  but  returned  and  soon  resumed  his  sway 
over  the  circle  of  his  loyal  friends.  Calhoun  had  been 
an  active  politician,  and  in  college  was  a  zealous  Jackson 
Democrat.  In  the  Philotechnian  Society,  of  which  he 
was  a  member,  he  advocated  the  election  of  Gen. 
Andrew  Jackson  to  the  presidency,  and  distinguished 
himself  by  the  great  ability  of  his  argument  and  the 
extent  of  his  knowledge  in  civil  affairs.  It  was  natural 
to  expect  him  to  enter  into  political  life,  and  we  who 
admired  his  talents  and  learning  had  unbounded  con- 
fidence in  his  future  distinction.  \Vc  talked  familiarly 
of  him  as  one  who  would  very  likel}'  be  president  of 
the  United   States.      He  graduated  with  us  in  1829,  and 


AN   UNBELIEVING   CLASSMATE.  169 

went  to  Springfield,  Mass.,  where  his  brother  resided, 
who  was  President  of  the  Senate  in  that  State,  and  there 
Calhoun  began  to  study  law.  Again  I  met  him  at  the 
foot  of  Mount  Lebanon,  in  Syria,  in  1854.  He  took  me 
to  his  house  on  the  mountain.  It  was  a  little  wooden 
cot,  such  as  the  very  poorest  of  our  people  at  home 
would  live  in,  and  surrounded  by  the  huts  of  a  semi- 
civilized  people  of  various  races,  whom  he  was  seeking 
to  instruct  in  the  truths  of  the  gospel !  Here  was  my 
college  classmate,  once  a  leader  in  the  armies  of  the 
wicked,  a  bold  and  crafty  enemy  of  religion,  now  a 
humble,  self-denying  missionary,  —  all  his  ambition,  learn- 
ing, talents,  prospects,  hopes  and  purposes  laid  at  the 
foot  of  the  cross.  Here  he  had  a  school  of  boys,  Arabs, 
whom  he  was  educating  for  usefulness  among  their  own 
people.  I  went  with  him  into  the  schoolroom  and 
listened  to  their  recitations,  Calhoun  interpreting  their 
answers.  When  I  was  satisfied,  he  allowed  them  to  ask 
me  questions.  It  was  curious  to  observe  their  interest 
in  what  was  going  on  in  America.  They  were  encour- 
aged to  make  themselves  familiar,  through  the  news- 
papers translated  to  them,  with  the  progress  of  things 
in  all  parts  of  the  world.  But  the  matter  that  had 
chiefly  excited  their  curiosity  recently  was  the  report 
that  a  man  had  walked  on  a  wall  with  his  head  hanging 
down  toward  the  floor.  They  asked  me  if  it  was  true, 
and  when  I  told  them  I  had  seen  it  done,  their  interest 
was  intense.  Then  I  lay  down  on  my  back  along  one 
of  the  benches,  and  putting  up  my  feet  toward  the 
ceiling-wall,  explained  to  them  the  process  while  their 
teacher  interpreted  my  remarks. 

.    Here,  in  this  obscure,  uninviting,  isolated  spot,  among 
these    poor,    ignorant    people,    my    friend    was    happy. 


170  SAMLKL   IREN/EUS    I'KIMK. 

True,  he  had  a  charming  wife  and  two  sweet  children, 
and  both  he  and  she  were  formed  and  fitted  to  adorn 
any  society  in  any  land,  yet  they  were  contented  to  live 
and  labor  and  die  in  this  mountain. 

A  few  days  afterwards  we  were  riding  on  horseback 
across  the  Plain  of  Sharon,  and  I  asked  Calhoun  to  tell 
me  what  it  was  that  arrested  him  in  his  course  of  unbe- 
lief, and  induced  him  to  begin  a  religious  life.  To  my 
surprise  he  said  it  was  the  death  of  his  mother!  He 
then  told  me  that  when  he  heard  of  the  event,  he  was  as 
careless  of  religious  things  and  as  bitterly  opposed  to 
them  as  he  had  ever  been ;  but  with  the  news  of  his 
mother's  death  came  up  the  recollection  of  her  counsels, 
her  holy  life,  and  her  tender  love  and  prayers,  and  then 
he  was  led  to  reflection,  to  penitence,  and  a  change  of 
purpose  for  the  future.  What  the  eloquence  of  the 
"  Prince  of  Preachers  "  could  not  do,  the  memory  of  a 
mother  did.  He  was  brought  to  a  holy  resolution  to 
devote  himself  to  the  service  of  God.  He  was  after- 
ward tutor  in  college,  and  then  becoming  a  preacher, 
he  offered  his  services  to  the  American  Board  of  Foreign 
Missions,  and  by  them  was  sent  to  Syria.  His  hfe  has 
been  commemorated  as  that  of  one  of  the  most  useful, 
consistent,  devoted  missionaries  in  any  part  of  the 
world. 


XXXVI. 

COLLEGE   INCIDENTS. 

My  Conversion. — A  Solemn  Moment. —  A  Prayer  Associ- 
ation.—  The  Incendiary.  —  Lowell  Smith.  —  Exami- 
nation AND  Graduation.  —  A  Father's  Drilling. 

Tn\URING  the  revival  I  have  mentioned  Dr.  Griffin 
"^^^  was  very  much  engaged  in  public  and  private  labor 
for  its  promotion.  His  house  was  always  open  for  the 
students  to  come  to  him  for  counsel.  In  my  last  letter 
I  mentioned  the  incident  of  my  own  visit  to  his  study, 
and  repeat  it  here  more  in  detail.  I  had  been  in  great 
anxiety  of  mind  for  two  weeks  or  more,  and  had  several 
times  conversed  with  him ;  but  at  last  I  was  led  so  near 
to  the  verge  of  despair  that  I  felt  a  deep  conviction  of 
the  necessity  of  deciding  the  question  at  once,  one  way 
or  the  other.  "  This  night,"  I  thought,  "  I  must  find 
peace,  or  I  will  seek  it  no  longer  in  religion."  With 
such  a  feeling  I  went  down  to  the  President's  house, 
and  found  him  alone  in  his  study.  He  received  me 
very  kindly,  and  asked  me  at  once  the  state  of  my  mind. 
I  told  him  frankly  that  I  had  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  great  question  with  me  must  be  settled  that 
night.  "Stop  a  moment,"  said  he;  and  rising  up  he 
went  to  his  study  door  and  opened  it,  stepped  across 
the  hall,  and  opened  the  door  of  the  parlor  in  which 
Mrs.  Griffin  was  sitting,  and  said  in  a  voice  of  tender 
compassion  and  entreaty  that  filled  me  with  the  deepest 


1/2  SAMUEL   IREN.^US    PRIME. 

emotions:  "My  dear,  Prime  second  is  here,  and  tells 
mc  that  the  great  question  with  him  must  be  decided 
to-nii^ht;  pray  for  him,  pray  for  him."  Shutting  the 
doors,  he  returned  and  sat  down  by  me  and  resumed 
the  conversation.  The  effect  of  this  movement  was 
nearly  overwhelming.  I  was  a  mere  child,  he  a  mag- 
nificent, venerable  man,  roused  as  if  the  interests  of  a 
nation  or  a  world  were  at  stake,  and  calling  on  his  wife 
to  pray  while  he  returned  to  aid  in  the  crisis  that  had 
arrived.  And  the  result  of  that  interview  was  my  reach- 
ing the  peaceful  assurance  that  I  was  a  forgiven  sinner. 

Volatile  to  an  excess  of  levity,  I  was  also  in  the  midst 
of  companions  who  had  no  interest  in  religion,  and  I 
was  far  from  being  as  serious  as  a  regard  to  Christian 
consistency  required.  Ardent,  enthusiastic  in  the  pur- 
suit of  any  good,  I  delighted  in  the  service  and  duties  of 
my  new  course  of  life,  and  sought  to  win  others  to  the 
same  faith  and  hope.  Five  of  us  formed  a  little  associa- 
tion for  daily  prayer,  and  kept  it  up  with  regularity.  It 
was  very  useful  to  me,  and,  I  think,  to  the  others.  The 
revival  did  not  result  in  the  conversion  of  many.  The 
most  of  those  who  were  awakened  soon  lost  all  serious- 
ness, and  became  wilder  than  before. 

About  this  time  the  college  was  startled  by  the  dis- 
covery that  the  building,  the  West  College,  in  which  I 
roomed,  was  set  on  fire  in  the  dead  of  night.  One  of 
the  students  on  the  same  floor  with  me,  the  fourth, 
having  got  ready  for  bed,  and  extinguished  his  light, 
thought  he  would  open  his  door  for  a  few  moments  to 
ventilate  his  room.  Waiting  in  silence  and  darkness, 
he  heard  some  one  pass  by,  in  his  stockings,  and  go  up 
the  stairs  to  the  garret,  and  soon  return.  Suspecting 
mischief,  he  ran  up  the  stairs  himself,  and  found  a  fire 


COLLEGE   INCIDENTS.  1 73 

kindled  under  the  roof,  which,  in  a  few  minutes,  would 
have  been  beyond  control.  He  extinguished  the  flames, 
and  went  to  his  room  without  disturbing  any  one.  The 
next  day  he  mentioned  the  facts.  The  dastardly  and 
infernal  character  of  the  deed  filled  every  mind  with 
horror.  It  was  evidently  the  expectation  of  the  incen- 
diary, by  kindling  the  fire  under  the  roof,  that  the  alarm 
would  be  given  in  season  for  the  students  to  make 
escape  with  their  lives ;  but  it  is  hardly  probable  that 
all  would  have  done  so  had  the  fire  raged  long  before 
discovery.  An  investigation  led  to  the  conviction  of 
the  incendiary.  He  was  expelled  from  college,  and  I 
have  never  heard  of  him  since.  His  name  was  so  pe- 
culiar that  I  would  recognize  it  if  I  met  it  in  a  list  of 
advertised  letters  or  in  the  Directory. 

Having  been  well  prepared  in  classical  studies  before 
coming  to  college,  I  had  no  difficulty  in  keeping  pace 
with  my  class  in  Latin  and  Greek.  Indeed  there  were 
many  who  depended  on  me  to  help  them  with  their 
lessons,  and  I  was  glad  to  avail  myself  of  their  aid  in 
mathematics.  Lowell  Smith,  who  has  been  for  many 
years  a  faithful  and  successful  missionary  at  the  Sand- 
wich Islands,  was  one  to  whom  I  was  greatly  indebted. 
We  roomed  together  one  year,  and  our  friendship  has 
continued  to  this  day.  He  has  sent  me  many  testimo- 
nials of  his  regard.  If  I  never  meet  with  him  on  earth, 
I  shall  still  cherish  his  memory  as  long  as  I  live,  and  I 
expect  to  meet  him  in  heaven. 

During  our  vacations  in  college  I  was  in  the  habit  of 
giving  my  father  assistance  in  the  academy,  of  which 
he  was  yet  the  principal.  The  last  term  of  our  Senior 
year  I  remained  at  home  for  this  purpose,  but  went 
down  to  the  Senior  examination  and  took  my  place  in 


174  SAMUEL  IREN.EUS    PRIME. 

the  class,  and  answered  questions  in  some  studies  that 
I  had  not  been  able  to  look  at.  Happily  the  committee, 
some  of  whom  slept  profoundly  while  we  were  supposed 
to  be  reciting,  did  not  censure  my  delinquencies,  and 
I  passed. 

In  August,  1829,  my  class  was  graduated.  I  deliv- 
ered the  Greek  oration,  which  was  then  one  of  the  four 
honors  of  the  class.  If  general  scholarship  was  the 
standard  of  merit,  I  did  not  deserve  the  distinction,  for 
there  were  several  who  had  higher  attainments.  But  in 
the  Latin  and  Greek  languages  I  was  easily  equal  to  any 
of  them,  and  this  was  due  to  my  father's  thorough  drill 
more  than  to  my  industry  or  talent.  The  Greek  Revolu- 
tion had  been  the  theme  of  universal  interest  at  that 
time,  and  I  wrote  a  sketch  of  Marco  Bozzaris  for  my 
Commencement  oration. 


XXXVII. 

THE   YOUNCx   TEACHER. 

My    Pupils. —  Self-Discipline. — Judge    Pratt's    Story. — 
Juvenile  Addresses.  —  Usefulness  and  Enjoyment. 

IN  the  evening  of  the  Commencement-day  on  which  I 
was  graduated,  I  set  out  for  home,  riding  with  my 
cousin,  John  P.  Jermain,  in  a  one-horse  wagon.  A  tre- 
mendous storm  of  rain,  with  thunder  and  Hghtning  most 
fearful,  came  up,  and  we  remained  all  night  at  Hoosic. 
The  next  morning  we  rose  early,  and  reached  Cambridge 
before  breakfast.  We  were  in  such  haste  to  get  home 
because  I  was  to  be  at  the  academy  at  nine  o'clock  A.  M., 
to  open  the  school  in  the  absence  of  my  father,  who 
remained  at  the  meeting  of  the  trustees  of  the  College. 
I  had  been  assisting  my  father  for  some  time  previously, 
and  now,  when  not  yet  seventeen  years  old,  was  in 
charge  of  the  school,  most  of  the  pupils  being  as  old 
as  myself,  and  some  much  older.  Too  young  to  study 
a  profession,  and  not  as  clearly  decided  in  my  mind 
what  to  do  as  I  had  been  in  even  earlier  years,  I  con- 
tinued to  teach  for  that  year  and  the  next.  This  was 
admirable  discipline.  I  learned  more  than  the  pupils. 
Pursuing  the  system  of  instruction  which  my  father  had 
inaugurated  with  great  success,  I  sought  to  make  ac- 
curate and  thorough  scholars,  and  this  required  close 
attention  on  my  part  to  the  niceties  of  the  classical 
authors  which  we  studied.     My  youth  encouraged  the 


176  SAMUEL  IREN.EUS   PRIME. 

pupils  to  watch  for  errors  in  my  tcachiiif^,  and  this 
quickened  me  to  careful  preparation,  and  I  never  have 
considered  it  lost  time  while  I  was  thus  employed. 

Not  long  after  my  graduation,  my  father  was  invited 
to  the  charge  of  the  Mount  Pleasant  Academy,  at  Sing 
Sing,  Westchester  county,  New  York.  After  visiting  the 
place  and  becoming  thoroughly  satisfied  that  it  was  de- 
sirable for  him  and  his  family  to  make  the  change,  he 
accepted  the  invitation,  and  removed  from  Cambridge  in 
the  spring  of  1 830.  I  remained  at  Cambridge  through 
the  summer  of  that  year,  and  continued  the  school,  my 
sister  Maria  also  having  charge  of  a  young  ladies'  school 
in  the  same  building.  This  was  a  great  responsibility 
very  early  laid  upon  me,  and  yet  I  proceeded  with  the 
work  as  a  matter  of  course,  and  endeavored  to  be  faith- 
ful. I  do  not  remember  that  I  had  a  case  of  discipline 
in  the  course  of  my  administration.  Receiving  the 
respectful  obedience  of  the  pupils  during  school  hours, 
and  being  their  companion  at  other  times,  I  led  them 
quietly  along  the  paths  of  science,  and  when  we  came 
to  the  hills  we  climbed  up  as  well  as  we  could.  One  of 
my  scholars  was  a  tall  young  man  from  Arg)-le,  by  the 
name  of  Pratt.  More  than  twenty  years  afterward  I 
met  him  at  Saratoga,  and  did  not  recognize  him.  He 
spoke  to  me  and  recalled  those  school-days  and  said  his 
name  was  Pratt.  "  Yes,"  said  I,  "  that  may  be,  but  the 
Pratt  who  went  to  school  to  me  was  a  man  of  great 
ability,  and  was  destined  to  be  something  in  the  world ; 
you  must  tell  me  who  you  are  and  what  you  are." 
"Well,"  he  replied,  "I  am  Judge  Pratt,  judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  New  York."  "  Ah,  that 
will  do,"  I  said.  "  You  are  the  man.  I  knew  you  were 
to  make  your  mark."     In  1873  he  was  the  Democratic 


THE   YOUNG   TEACHER.  1 77 

candidate  for  the  office  of  Attorney-General  in  the  State 
of  New  York.  I  introduced  Judge  Pratt  to  a  large  circle 
of  my  clerical  friends  who  were  at  the  Springs,  and  the 
Judge  was  soon  the  life  of  the  company.  He  was  over- 
flowing with  good  stories,  of  which  I  now  recall  but  one. 
He  said:  "At  Syracuse,  where  I  reside,  the  Millerites 
had  quite  a  large  sect,  and  as  they  saw  the  time  of  the 
end  drawing  nigh,  they  talked  of  having  all  things  in 
common.  Those  who  had  nothing  of  their  own  to 
divide  with  others,  were  of  course  quite  willing  to  make 
this  arrangement,  and  the  most  of  them  were  of  this 
description.  But  there  was  one  rich  farmer  who  had 
joined  the  company  and  was  looking  daily  for  the  com- 
ing of  the  Lord.  He  was  called  upon  to  give  up  his 
large  and  handsome  property  for  the  common  benefit, 
and  at  this  he  demurred.  He  would  think  and  pray 
over  it  and  report  at  the  next  meeting.  When  that 
came  and  they  were  all  together  in  one  place,  he  said 
that  his  mind  was  fully  made  up  as  to  his  duty;  while 
praying  over  the  subject  a  text  of  Scripture  had  been 
deeply  impressed  on  his  mind,  and  it  had  made  his  way 
perfectly  clear:  it  was  this,  '  Occupy  till  I  come.'  He 
should  do  it." 

Some  of  the  young  men  who  were  then  under  my 
care  became  useful  preachers,  teachers,  lawyers,  and 
distinguished  in  various  ways.  I  have  reason  to  believe 
that  the  mental  and  moral  discipline  of  that  year  was 
quite  as  profitable  to  me  as  in  any  year  of  my  life  as  a 
student.  I  had  suddenly  become  a  man,  not  in  years, 
nor  in  wisdom,  but  in  position,  responsibility,  and  duty. 
In  the  year  1829  I  was  called  on  to  deliver  the  annual 
address  before  the  Young  Men's  Bible  Society  of  Cam- 
bridge and  vicinity.     The  venerable   Dr.   Bullions,   my 


178  SAMUEL   IREN/liUS    I'RIMK. 

father,  and  other  clergymen  were  [present,  and  I  made 
an  address  which  is  still  preserved  among  my  papers, 
sophomorical  in  its  rhetoric,  but  earnest  in  its  tone, 
and  full  of  hope  for  the  future  knowledge  of  the  Bible 
in  all  the  earth.  The  temperance  cause  was  now  in  its 
full  tide  of  success,  and  I  made  an  address  in  the  White 
Meeting-house  to  a  large  audience.  These  juvenile 
efforts  were  made  before  I  was  seventeen  years  old, 
and  I  mention  them  merely  to  show  that  I  was  panting 
to  have  a  part  in  the  great  drama  of  life,  and  was  rush- 
ing in  as  soon  as  any  door  was  open.  I  sought  to  fire 
my  pupils  with  the  same  enthusiasm  in  the  pursuit  of 
usefulness.  Even  then  I  had  reached  a  truth  that  has 
been  my  main-spring  of  action  all  the  way  through  this 
first  half-century  of  life,  that  usefulness  is  the  practical 
end  or  object  of  living.  Enjoyment  is  only  by  the  way. 
I  am  also  sure  that  even  enjoyment  is  found  more  fre- 
quently in  paths  of  usefulness  than  in  any  others.  But 
if  it  were  not,  it  should  not  lessen  our  usefulness. 


XXXVIII. 
CHOOSING   A    PROFESSION. 

Early  Struggles.  —  Imitating  Tennent.  —  Reading  Black- 
stone.  —  The  Future  Governor. 

IN  the  autumn  of  1830  I  joined  my  parents  at  Sing 
Sing,  the  Academy  there  being  in  a  flourishing 
state,  and  my  father  wanting  my  aid.  But  the  time  had 
arrived  when  it  was  important  that  I  should  decide  on  a 
profession.  My  early  intention  to  be  a  preacher  had 
given  way  before  a  conviction  of  my  moral  unfitness  for 
the  sacred  office.  As  its  purity  and  dignity  rose  up 
before  me,  I  shrank  from  the  holy  place,  and  sought  to 
find  sorne  other  service  to  which  I  was  better  adapted. 
I  had  indeed  made  a  profession  of  religion,  and  main- 
tained the  character  that  should  become  a  man  who  had 
thus  devoted  himself  to  the  church ;  but  my  tempera- 
ment was  so  lively,  mercurial,  and  excitable  that  I  gave 
way  to  levity  to  a  degree  that  was  inconsistent  with 
the  sobriety  of  a  clerical  life.  Of  this  I  was  more  sensi- 
ble than  my  friends  may  have  supposed.  I  struggled 
against  it;  wrote  serious  resolutions  and  prayed  over 
them  ;  made  vows  and  asked  God  to  help  me  keep  them. 
Sometimes  I  succeeded  in  being  very  sober  outwardly 
for  a  few  days.  But  it  was  as  natural  for  me  to  make 
fun  as  it  was  to  breathe.  My  father  was  always  fond  of 
telling  a  good  story ;  and  as  like  begets  like,  I  fell  into 
the  habit.  For  such  a  person  to  put  on  a  long  face  and 
pretend  to  be  grave  was  to  be  a  hypocrite. 


l80  SAMUEL  IREN^US   PRIME. 

When  the  Rev.  Gilbert  Tcnncnt  was  a  minister  at  New 
Brunswick,  N.  J.,  a  pastor  in  a  town  some  distance  off 
who  had  heard  of  the  wonderfully  holy  man  Mr,  Ten- 
nent,  came  down  to  spend  a  few  days  in  the  place  and 
learn  of  him.  Impressed  deeply  with  the  power  of 
awful  sanctity  that  he  saw  in  Mr.  Tenncnt,  he  returned 
to  his  parish  with  a  firm  resolution  to  be  like  that 
blessed  man  of  God.  Spending  the  close  of  the  week 
in  devout  retirement,  he  went  to  church  on  Sabbath 
morning,  greeting  those  who  met  him  at  the  door  with  a 
solemn  air  and  tone  that  was  all  unusual  in  their  genial 
and  cheerful  pastor.  He  conducted  the  services  in  the 
same  profoundly  serious  manner,  so  serious  as  to  be  un- 
natural unless  he  were  under  some  peculiar  pressure. 
As  he  came  from  the  pulpit  one  of  his  elders  gave  him 
his  hand  and  kindly  asked  if  anything  was  the  matter 
with  him;  was  he  unwell,  or  his  family,  or  had  he  heard 
any  evil  tidings.  To  all  these  inquiries  the  pastor  re- 
plied No ;  and  at  last  the  elder,  unable  to  penetrate  the 
mystery,  exclaimed,  "  Well,  if  nothing  is  the  matter, 
then  the  Devil's  in  you."  The  good  pastor  confessed 
the  fact  on  the  spot.  He  was  trying  to  be  like  Mr, 
Tennent,  and  not  himself  He  was  acting  a  part,  and 
he  resolved  to  be  hereafter  himself,  and  as  much  better 
as  possible. 

Having  nearly  reached  the  age  of  manhood,  and  hav- 
ing made  no  progress  in  the  work  of  self-subjection,  I 
was  coming  to  the  conclusion  in  my  own  mind  that  my 
temperament  was  quite  unfit  for  a  minister  of  the  gospel. 
Many  years  afterward  a  gentleman  who  attained  high 
distinction  in  civil  life,  and  was  a  representative  of  our 
Government  at  a  foreign  court,  told  me  that  he  had 
when  a  young  man  turned  his  thoughts  to  the  Christian 


CHOOSING  A   PROFESSION.  i8l 

ministry,  but  abandoned  the  idea  because  he  felt  assured 
he  had  not  rehgion  enough  to  enable  him  to  resist 
the  temptations  incident  to  the  profession.  I  had  not 
rehgion  or  foresight  enough  to  anticipate  such  an  objec- 
tion. But  I  did  honestly  apprehend  that  my  constitu- 
tional levity  was  such  as  to  make  it  undesirable  for  me 
to  assume  the  duties  of  a  calling  whose  whole  work  was 
in  its  name  and  nature  so  grave  and  reverend.  I  did 
not  reach  this  opinion  without  great  conflict.  In  the 
solitude  of  my  chamber  and  the  distress  of  my  heart, 
I  sought  the  Infinite  Spirit  to  guide  me  in  the  matter, 
and  to  save  me  from  making  a  mistake  at  a  point  where 
the  issues  of  life,  and  perhaps  life  eternal,  were  turning. 
The  result  of  this  self-examination  and  this  seeking  after 
the  guiding  light  of  heaven  was  that  I  went  to  General 
Aaron  Ward  and  asked  him  to  lend  me  the  first  volume 
of  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  that  I  might  begin  the 
study  of  'law.  He  gave  it  to  me,  and  I  began  to  read  it 
at  my  intervals  of  leisure,  which,  however,  were  few  and 
short. 

The  winter  passed  pleasantly,  though  full  of  labors,  — 
teaching  before  breakfast,  all  day,  and  often  in  the  even- 
ing, and  reading  law  when  all  the  family  were  sound 
asleep.  But  the  law  did  not  meet  the  cravings  of  my 
spirit.  The  depth  of  my  soul  was  filled  with  love  for  a 
truth  that  was  not  taught  in  Blackstone.  My  flesh  and 
my  heart  cried  out  for  the  living  God.  In  the  next 
spring  and  summer  we  had  a  remarkable  relieious  awa- 

1  •  • 

kenmg  m  the  academy,  and  in  the  female  seminary 
of  which  my  sister  had  charge,  and  several  of  the  stu- 
dents in  both  the  schools  were  converted.  In  this  work 
I  was  enthusiastic.  It  revived  in  me  all  the  "  first  love  " 
of  a  young  convert,  and  I  began  a  new  life  of  devotion. 


1 82  SAMUEL   IREN.tUS   PRIME. 

Abandoning  the  thought  of  being  a  lawyer,  I  returned 
with  new  zeal  to  the  pursuit  of  those  studies  which 
should  fit  me  for  the  work  of  the  ministry.  Yet  there 
was  little  time  for  the  study  of  anything  out  of  the  line 
of  the  profession  that  engrossed  my  attention  night  and 
day.  I  was  a  teacher  of  boys,  but  panting  to  be  a 
teacher  of  men. 

Speaking  of  boys,  I  am  reminded  of  one  who  was 
learning  his  letters,  and  who  daily  stood  at  my  knee  and 
said  his  lesson.  He  tried  my  patience  severely  as  he 
blundered  over  his  A,  B,  C.  But  he  mastered  them 
finally,  and  made  commendable  progress  in  his  books. 
1  came  near  hanging  him  by  the  neck,  and  the  tragedy 
is  a  warning  to  all  who,  like  myself,  are  too  apt  to  trifle. 
One  day  I  directed  him  to  stand  up  in  the  middle  of  the 
floor,  as  a  correction  for  some  fault.  Near  him  the  bell 
rope  came  down  to  the  floor,  through  the  ceiling  over- 
head. There  was  a  noose  at  the  end  of  it,  and  in  play- 
fulness I  dropped  it  over  his  head,  and  it  rested  on  his 
shoulders.  Some  boys  were  in  the  hall  above,  and  in 
mischief  just  at  that  moment  commenced  pulling  the 
rope  up.  Instantly  it  caught  the  child  by  the  neck. 
They  thought  some  one  had  taken  hold  of  the  lower 
end,  and  drew  up  all  the  harder.  I  seized  the  rope  and 
drew  down,  but  the  child  was  choking;  it  was  a  terrible 
moment ;  I  feared  he  was  killed,  and  was  less  rapid  in 
my  success  than  I  would  have  been  had  I  not  been 
terrified.  But  I  soon  extricated  the  sufferer,  and  he 
hardly  knew  what  had  happened.  He  went  on  with  his 
studies,  became  a  capital  speaker  at  public  meetings, 
studied  law,  became  Recorder  of  the  city  of  New  York, 
and  subsequently  Governor  of  the  State  of  New  York, 
—  my  life-long  friend,  John  T.  Hoffman. 


XXXIX. 

SING  SING  ON  THE  HUDSON. 

My  Useful  Friend.  — A  Religious  Warrior.  — The  Prison 
Sunday-School. —  The  French  Commissioners.  — M.  de 
tocqueville  on  the  hudson. 

WHEN  I  arrived  at  Sing  Sing  from  the  north  by 
steamboat,  on  landing  I  looked  about  for  some 
one  to  take  my  trunk  up  the  hill.  Seeing  a  man  with 
his  horse  and  cart,  I  asked  him  if  he  would  do  this.  He 
readily  consented,  and  asked  me  to  ride  with  him.  On 
the  way  we  fell  into  conversation,  and  I  was  pleased 
with  the  frankness  and  intelligence  of  the  man.  Arrived 
at  the  door,  I  asked  him  "  what  was  to  pay,"  and  he 
said,  "  Nothing,"  and  drove  onward.  I  mentioned  the 
circumstance  in  the  house,  and  describing  the  man,  my 
father  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  he  's  Mr.  Watson,  a  neighbor  of 
ours,  a  nursery  and  seeds  man."  In  a  few  days  I  met 
him  again,  and  after  a  pleasant  laugh  about  the  trunk 
we  formed  an  agreeable  acquaintance,  which  ripened 
into  intimate  friendship,  which  has  continued  without  a 
moment's  interruption  to  the  present.  By  birth  an  Eng- 
lishman, by  education  a  Scotch  Presbyterian,  he  was  a 
loyal  and  loving  citizen.  In  early  life,  without  the  ad- 
vantages of  a  liberal  or  classical  education,  he  had  in  a 
a  memory  of  extraordinary  power  treasured  the  best 
thoughts  of  the  best  authors,  having  pages  of  standard 
poets,  philosophy,  and   theology  at  his  command.     So 


1 84  SAMUEL   IREN^US    PRIME. 

familiar  was  he  with  all  the  literature  of  his  own  country 
that  I  never  encountered  his  match  in  facility  of  refer- 
ence and  citation.  In  subsequent  years  he  added  to 
his  acquirements  a  knowledge  of  the  Latin  and  Greek 
tongues,  the  German  and  hVench,  and  yet  pursued  his 
daily  labors  in  the  field,  performing  a  farmer's  day's 
work  every  day.  Twenty  years  after  I  first  knew  him  I 
was  secretary  of  the  American  Bible  Society ;  and  as  he 
had  told  me  a  hundred  times,  and  often  with  moistened 
eyes,  that  he  longed  for  some  service  that  would  take 
him  from  the  soil  to  immediate  contact  with  the  souls 
of  men,  I  gave  him  an  agency  for  the  circulation  of 
the  Scriptures  in  this  city.  He  steadily,  faithfully,  and 
with  great  usefulness  pursued  the  work  for  years.  The 
New  York  Classis  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  gave 
him  license  to  preach  the  gospel,  though  his  duties  to 
the  Bible  Society  did  not  allow  him  to  take  a  pastoral 
charge.  His  friendship  and  sympathy  form  a  living 
link  with  the  associations  of  my  early  life  at  Sing  Sing. 

In  the  village  of  Sing  Sing  was  a  young  man  in  a 
drug  store,  whose  name  was  Perry.  He  took  the  Texas 
fever,  went  there,  and  became  active  in  the  military 
movements  under  Gen.  Sam.  Houston.  When  he  re- 
turned from  the  South  he  became  religious,  and  entered 
the  ministry  in  the  Methodist  Church.  His  sympathies 
were  warmly  with  the  South  when  the  Southern  rebellion 
in  1 86 1  broke  out,  but  his  loyalty  and  principle  made 
him  a  patriot,  and  he  was  ardently  attached  to  the  gov- 
ernment. At  a  meeting  of  the  Ministers'  Conference,  a 
Doctor  of  Divinity  introduced  a  series  of  political  reso- 
lutions to  which  Mr.  Perry  objected  as  out  of  place  in 
such  a  meeting.  The  Doctor  said  he  hoped  there  were 
no  traitors  present,  whereupon  Mr.  Perry  rose  and  very 


SING   SING   ON   THE   HUDSON.  185 

deliberately  said:  "If  the  gentleman  means  to  apply 
that  term  to  me,  I  shall  feel  bound  to  chastise  him  on 
the  spot."  The  Doctor  immediately  apologized  for  his 
hasty  remark.  Within  a  few  days  Mr.  Perry  raised  a 
regiment  of  soldiers,  was  appointed  colonel  of  it,  went 
away  to  fight  the  battles  of  his  country,  and  died  in  the 
service. 

While  we  were  residing  at  Sing  Sing  we  became  inter- 
ested in  the  moral  condition  of  the  State  Prison  at  that 
place.  We  organized  a  corps  of  teachers  to  go  every 
Sabbath  and  give  instruction  to  the  prisoners,  under  the 
general  supervision  of  the  chaplain,  Rev.  Mr.  Dickerson. 
We  had  six  or  eight  convicts  assigned  to  each  teacher, 
and  standing  at  the  door  we  held  up  the  book  to  the 
grated  window  in  it,  and  taught  the  prisoners  to  read. 
In  our  first  experiment  we  selected  those  that  were  the 
most  ignorant,  as  the  most  in  need  of  being  taught.  I 
used  the  first  chapter  of  the  Gospel  by  John  as  the 
lesson  in  which  all  my  prison  pupils  learned  their  let- 
ters, and  then  to  read.  By  and  by  the  authorities  of 
the  prison  consented  to  bring  the  men  out  every  Sab- 
bath into  the  chapel,  and  we  took  our  seats  with  them, 
as  in  any  school,  and  taught  them  the  Word  of  God. 
The  work  became  exceedingly  interesting  and  useful  to 
us,  if  not  to  the  prisoners. 

About  this  time  two  French  commissioners,  MM. 
Beaumont  and  De  Tocqueville,  came  to  this  country  to 
examine  the  systems  of  prison  discipline,  and  other 
institutions,  and  to  make  a  report  to  their  own  gov- 
ernment. They  visited  at  our  house,  and  we  became 
deeply  interested  in  these  gentlemen,  more  particularly 
in  M.  de  Tocqueville,  who  was  the  more  social,  inquir- 
ing, and  communicative.     Having  heard  of  the  Sunday- 


1 86  SAMUEL   IREN^.US    PRIME. 

school  in  the  prison,  thc}'  requested  the  privilege  of 
attending  it  and  went  with  me  on  Sabbath  morning  to 
the  prison.  M  de  Tocquevillc  spent  the  hour  with  me 
and  my  class.  He  took  the  Bible  in  his  hand  and  heard 
one  of  the  convicts  repeat  two  chapters  of  some  forty 
verses  each,  without  missing  or  miscalling  a  single  word. 
The  French  philosopher  was  filled  with  astonishment. 
He  pursued  his  inquiries  till  he  found  that  the  only  time 
the  man  could  have  for  study  was  part  of  an  hour  while 
they  were  resting  at  noon,  and  yet  he  had  mastered  all 
these  verses,  and  such  thoughts,  too,  as  the  gospel  pre- 
sented to  his  poor  soul !  Turning  to  me,  the  statesman 
asked,  "  Do  you  not  suppose  that  thc  instruction  here 
given  to  these  men  has  much  to  do  with  the  government 
of  thc  prison  ?  "  When  he  went  back  to  France,  and 
published  a  volume  on  America,  he  mentioned  in  it  this 
visit  to  the  prison  Sabbath-school,  and  the  recitation  he 
there  heard. 

One  day  I  spent  with  these  gentlemen  walking  into 
thc  country  over  the  hills  east  of  the  village.  From  the 
heights  now  crowned  with  elegant  residences  we  had  a 
splendid  view  of  the  Hudson  River,  with  the  Highlands 
on  both  sides,  and  the  whole  width  and  sweep  from  the 
Havcrstraw  Bay  through  Tappan  Zee  to  the  city  of 
New  York.  M.  De  Tocqueville  said,  as  we  sat  on  a 
rail  fence  gazing  with  admiration  on  this  magnificent 
view,  "  We  will  except  the  Bay  of  Naples,  out  of  respect 
to  the  opinion  of  the  world,  but  I  never  saw  a  more 
beautiful  scene  in  nature  than  this." 

Afterward  this  gentleman  became  distinguished  in 
the  world  of  mind  and  letters.  He  comprehended  the 
genius  of  our  Constitution,  as  foreigners  rarely  do,  even 
Englishmen.     His    works   always    breathed    a   spirit   of 


SING   SING    ON   THE   HUDSON.  ig/ 

kindliness  toward  us,  and  it  has  often  afforded  me  a  real 
pleasure  to  know  that  when  I  was  but  twenty  years  of 
age  I  had  the  opportunity  of  several  days'  converse 
with  so  discerning,  intelligent,  and  instructive  a  man. 
Of  course  it  would  be  forgotten  by  him  in  a  few  days, 
while  the  impression  on  my  mind  was  permanent. 


XL. 
EXAMINED   BY   PRESBYTERY. 

Choler.\  i.\  Prison.  —  The  Inxorkigible  Youth.  —  Examin- 
ations BY  Presbytery. — Religion  and  Music. 

THE  summer  of  1832  was  made  memorable  as  the 
first  cJioIera  season  in  this  country.  Upon  the 
news  of  its  having  reached  Canada  a  panic  seized  the 
people  of  the  United  States.  A  day  of  fasting  and 
prayer  was  set  apart,  and  very  generally  observed.  In 
Sing  Sing  it  would  have  been  hard  to  find  twenty  men 
who  would  go  to  church  on  a  week-day,  and  when  we 
appointed  a  service  for  the  fast-day  it  was  scarcely  ex- 
pected that  there  would  be  a  congregation.  As  my 
father  and  I  were  walking  to  the  church,  we  lamented 
that  none  were  on  their  way  with  us.  We  arrived  and 
found  the  house  crowded  !  The  people  were  all  there 
before  us,  and  the  day  was  devoutly  observed.  At  last 
the  cholera  reached  the  prison,  and  made  terrible  havoc 
among  the  prisoners.  My  brother  Alanson  was  then 
studying  medicine  with  Dr.  Hoffman,  the  physician  of 
the  prison.  My  brother  was  locked  up  night  after  night 
in  the  hospital  with  the  convicts  that  he  might  be  on 
hand  to  minister  to  the  sick,  many  of  whom  would  be 
attacked  in  their  cells  and  must  then  be  carried  in- 
stantly to  the  hospital  for  treatment.  In  one  of  these 
dreadful  nights  a  young  man  was  brought  in  under  a 


EXAMINED    BY   PRESBYTERV.  189 

terrible  attack.  His  case  at  first  resisted  all  human  skill, 
but  my  brother  labored  long  and  hard  to  save  the  poor 
fellow,  who  at  length  said  to  him,  "  Doctor,  do  you 
know  me?  "  He  said,  "  No ;  "  and  then  the  young  man 
told  him  who  he  was.  He  was  a  Cambridge  boy,  one 
of  our  friends  and  boyhood  companions  in  the  con- 
gregation of  the  Old  White  Meeting-house.  He  had 
left  there  two  or  three  years  before,  gone  to  the  city  to 
be  a  clerk,  committed  a  forgery,  and  been  sent  to  State 
prison.  My  brother  carried  him  through  the  collapse 
of  the  cholera  and  a  typhoid  stage  that  followed  it. 
When  he  was  well  we  obtained  pardon  of  the  Governor, 
had  him  up  at  our  house,  and  did  what  we  could  to 
secure  him  for  the  future  in  the  ways  of  virtue.  But  he 
returned  to  vice  and  crime,  and  finally  died  in  prison,  I 
think  in  New  Orleans. 

In  the  autumn  of  1832  I  was  received  by  the  Presby- 
tery of  Bedford  as  a  candidate  for  the  ministry.  It  was 
necessary  for  me  to  present  myself  to  that  body  for  ex- 
amination before  I  could  come  under  its  care.  For  this 
purpose  I  had  to  drive  to  Rye,  some  fifteen  or  twenty 
miles  from  Sing  Sing,  where  the  Presbytery  held  its 
autumnal  session.  As  I  was  riding  in  a  gig  through  the 
village  of  White  Plains,  I  met  a  regiment  of  militia,  it 
being  the  day  of  "  general  training."  The  General  in 
command  was  the  Hon.  Aaron  Ward,  of  Sing  Sing,  a 
very  warm  friend  of  mine,  who,  seeing  me,  raised  his 
military  hat  and  made  me  a  graceful  salute.  I  stopped 
the  horse,  and,  standing  up  in  the  gig,  returned  the  sa- 
lute. The  officers  of  his  staff,  supposing  it  to  be  some 
"distinguished"  friend  of  the  General,  made  the  salute, 
and  the  soldiers  followed  their  example,  while  I  stood, 
feeling  very  much  overwhelmed,  but  returning  the  com- 


1 90  SAMUEL    IREN.KUS    PRIME. 

plinicnt  until  the  entire  body,  a  thousand  or  more,  had 
marched  b>'.     Then  I  went  on  to  Presbytery. 

The  next  day  a  committee  was  appointed  to  examine 
the  candidates,  of  whom  there  was  but  one  besides 
myself.  Wc  retired  to  a  house  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
church  with  the  committee  who  were  to  satisfy  them- 
selves that  we  were  sincere  in  our  desires  to  serve  God 
in  the  Christian  ministry.  My  examination  was  brief,  for 
I  had  little  to  say,  —  nothing,  indeed,  except  that  from 
my  childhood  it  had  been  my  purpose  to  preach  the 
gospel.  At  times  my  heart  had  been  drawn  aside  to 
other  aims,  but  had  returned  again  to  its  early  love,  and 
now  it  was  the  governing  purpose  of  my  life  to  be  use- 
ful, and  if  it  pleased  God  to  give  me  that  honor  and 
privilege,  it  should  be  spent  in  preaching  the  gospel  of 
his  dear  Son. 

My  companion  in  examination  said  he  had  very  lately 
got  religion,  —  he  was  sure  of  it.  for  he  used  to  be  great 
for  fifing,  but  when  he  was  converted  he  gave  it  right 
up.  Before  that  time  he  would  rather  go  without  a 
meal  of  victuals  any  time  than  to  lose  his  fifing;  but 
now  he  didn't  want  to  fife  at  all.  Though  the  hour  was 
to  me  one  of  great  solemnity,  I  could  only  with  much 
difficulty  maintain  a  decent  gravity  while  this  narrative 
was  given.  There  sat  the  grave  divines  as  solemn  as  if 
we  were  at  a  funeral,  and  I  reproached  myself  severely 
for  wishing  to  laugh  in  such  a  presence  and  on  such 
an  occasion.  I  said  to  myself,  "If  those  men  feel  as 
they  look,  I  am  not  right."  Returning  to  the  church,  I 
walked  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Remington,  one  of  the  commit- 
tee, and  as  devout  a  man  as  I  ever  knew.  He  was  of  a 
ghastly  pallor,  —  from  some  disease  of  the  heart.  He 
was  afterwards  found  dead  in  his  bed.     I  determined  to 


EXAMINED   BY   PRESBYTERY.  -     191 

probe  him  and  ascertain  for  my  own  satisfaction  if  he 
verily  received  that  young  man's  remarks  as  satisfactory 
evidence  of  reHgious  experience.  Carelessly  I  began, 
"  Our  young  friend  seems  to  have  had  a  remarkable 
fondness  for  the  use  of  the  fife."  That  was  enough. 
Mr.  Remington  left  the  middle  of  the  road  where  we 
were  walking,  went  to  the  rail  fence,  and  leaning  on  it, 
laughed  mightily.  When  he  was  fully  recovered  to  his 
normal  sobriety,  he  returned,  and  we  resumed  our  walk 
to  the  church.  Presbytery  took  the  young  man  under 
their  care,  but  when  he  came  before  them  again  six 
months  afterward,  they  kindly  advised  him  to  abandon 
the  idea  of  preaching. 

I  have  a  friend  who  is  an  accomplished  teacher  of 
Spanish,  French,  and  music  in  this  city.  He  was  ex- 
travagantly fond  of  playing  the  violin.  Some  years  ago 
he  was  led  to  seek  and  find  religion  in  the  Methodist 
Church.  Conscientiously  he  gave  up  the  violin.  But 
he  was  not  a  happy  Christian.  Fortunately  he  stated  his 
feelings  to  my  father,  who  knew  his  former  fondness  for 
music,  and  who  soon  drew  from  him  the  fact  that  he 
had  laid  aside  his  violin  as  an  amusement  incompatible 
with  his  profession  of  religion.  My  father  bade  him  to 
fiddle,  sing,  and  pray.  He  did  all,  and  did  them  well, 
and  has  been  a  happy  Christian  for  twenty-five  years 
and  more. 


XLI. 

STUDYING   AT   PRINCETON. 

Rev.  Mk.   Nettletox.  —  My   Room-.matk.  —  Dr.   Miller.— 
Dr.  Alexander.  —  His  Dvixr;  Testimo.ny. 

A  FEW  weeks  after  this  visit  to  Presbytery.  I  went 
to  Princeton  and  entered  the  Theological  Semi- 
nar}'. On  my  way  there  I  was  made  acquainted  with  a 
young  man  going  to  enter  the  seminary,  whose  name  was 
Lewis  C.  Gunn.  We  agreed  to  room  together.  From 
New  York  to  New  Brunswick  we  went  by  steamboat, 
and  thence  by  stage.  Among  the  passengers  in  the 
stage  was  the  celebrated  Rev.  Dr.  Nettleton,  so  greatly 
honored  of  God  in  the  promotion  of  revivals  of  religion. 
On  the  next  Sabbath  I  heard  him  preach.  His  preach- 
ing, I  am  told,  was  always  simple,  and  on  this  occasion 
it  was  so  simple  that  it  greatly  disappointed  me.  It  was 
very  hard  for  me  to  discover  the  secret  of  that  great 
power  which  he  had  over  the  minds  and  hearts  of  his 
hearers.  Beyond  all  question  in  my  mind,  he  was  the 
best  revivalist  of  the  last  fifty  years.  His  doctrines, 
measures,  and  manners  were  unexceptionable,  so  far  as 
I  know,  and  the  influence  of  the  revivals  in  which  he 
participated  is  said  to  have  been  permanently  good. 
My  long  ride  of  four  or  five  hours  in  the  stage  with  him 
was  the  only  interview  I  ever  had  with  him,  and  although 
he  was  known  to  us  all  by  reputation,  and  he  knew  that 
we  were  on  our  way  to  the  Theological  Seminar)-,  where 


STUDYING   AT   PRINCETON.  1 93 

he  was  also  going  to  visit  the  professors,  yet  all 
that  he  said  to  us  that  made  any  impression  on  my 
mind  was  a  trifling  expression  which  I  remembered 
because  it  seemed  to  be  unworthy  of  Mr.  Nettleton, 
and  not  very  witty  for  anybody.  I  would  not  make 
this  record  except  as  a  suggestion  for  myself  and  the 
clergy  generally. 

Upon  entering  the  seminary  my  chum  and  I  selected 
our  room  on  the  third  story,  the  door  opening  just  at 
the  head  of  the  stairs.  Over  the  door  we  put  our  names, 
"  Prime  and  Gunn."  Gunn  was  a  kind-hearted  young 
man,  who  made  good  recitations,  but  rapidly  grew  wiser 
than  his  teachers.  He  remained  in  the  seminary  after 
I  left.  On  leaving  he  became  an  itinerant  lecturer,  tak- 
ing very  ultra  ground  as  an  abolitionist,  suffering  some- 
times from  the  violence  of  the  mob.  I  was  told  that  he 
abandoned  the  religious  ideas  of  his  youth,  became  mel- 
ancholy, and  an  invalid.  He  may  have  been  useful  in 
ways  that  have  not  been  made  known  to  the  world. 

The  first  moment  at  my  study-table  in  the  seminary 
was  one  of  exquisite  pleasure.  Before  me  was  the  pros- 
pect of  one,  two,  or  three  years  of  uninterrupted  and  un- 
divided study,  under  the  most  favorable  circumstances, 
in  those  departments  best  suited  to  delight,  improve, 
and  satisfy  a  religious  mind.  Every  nerve  in  me  seemed 
thrilled  with  joy.  This  was  on  the  instant  when  I  took 
my  chair  and  first  sat  down.  I  was  nearly  overcome 
with  the  emotion  awakened  by  the  promise  of  what  was 
now  to  be  mine.  One  single  desire  reigned  supreme  in 
my  soul,  —  to  be  fitted  for  usefulness.  Whatever  pas- 
sions had  control  before,  or  have  had  since,  then,  in  the 
dew  of  my  youth,  I  was  wholly  absorbed  in  the  pursuit 
of  truth  for  the  sake  of  doing  good  with  it.     Ardent, 

13 


194  SAMUEL   IREN.EUS   PRIME. 

enthusiastic,  and  now  indulged  in  what  had  long  been 
my  ruling  passion,  the  possession  of  time  and  opportu- 
nity for  stud)',  I  went  into  the  work  before  me  with  a 
zeal  that  left  reason  and  good  sense  out  of  the  question. 
I  studied  night  and  day, — beginning  before  daylight,  and 
keeping  at  it  often  till  midnight  and  after.  At  the  close 
of  the  first  recitation,  when  I  read  an  essay,  Dr.  Samuel 
Miller  asked  me  to  remain  after  the  class  had  retired; 
he  then  invited  me  to  his  house  to  take  tea,  and  there 
kindly  tendered  to  me  the  use  of  his  private  library 
during  my  seminary  course.  Taking  me  into  it,  and 
showing  me  his  vast  stores  of  theology  and  general  liter- 
ature, he  charged  me  to  make  free  use  of  any  books 
that  I  wanted  at  any  time,  and  come  to  him  at  all  times 
as  to  a  brother  and  friend.  This  unexpected  and  un- 
merited favor  at  the  hands  of  so  venerable  and  eminent 
a  man  was  quite  overpowering,  and  I  could  only,  with 
many  thanks,  assure  him  that  the  best  proof  of  my 
gratitude  would  be  to  avail  myself  of  his  great  liberality. 
I  went  to  my  room  with  a  "  body  of  divinity "  in  my 
arms. 

Dr.  Archibald  Alexander  received  mc  with  kindness, 
but  his  manner  was  less  demonstrative  than  Dr.  Miller's. 
On  the  first  occasion  of  my  preaching  or  rather  "  speak- 
ing a  little  sermon  "  before  him  in  the  oratory,  he  en- 
couraged me  by  making  only  one  remark,  and  that  a 
compliment,  which  was  said  to  be  unusual  with  him ; 
his  words  were,  "  A  very  fine  specimen  of  public  speak- 
ing; call  the  next."  I  wrote  this  home  to  my  father, 
who  was  evidently  exceedingly  gratified  by  hearing  that 
I  had  met  with  such  favor,  and  I  was  more  pleased  with 
my  father's  pleasure  than  I  had  been  with  Dr.  Alexan- 
der's.     The    friendship    of  these    venerable    professors 


STUDYING  AT   PRINCETON.  1 95 

was  continued  to  me  with  increasing  kindness  so  long 
as  they  Hved.  Two  or' three  years  before  their  death  I 
was  visiting  Princeton  and  requested  them  to  furnish  me 
a  brief  sketch  of  their  hves,  giving  me  the  several  dates 
of  importance  connected  with  the  chief  events.  This 
they  did,  and  immediately  upon  their  respective  deaths, 
I  prepared  and  published  in  the  "  New  York  Observer," 
from  these  data,  full  and  accurate  biographies  of  those 
beloved  and  distinguished  men. 

The  funeral  of  Dr.  Alexander  was  attended  by  a  vast 
concourse  of  clergymen,  the  Synod  of  New  Jersey  being 
in  session  at  the  time.  As  we  were  coming  from  the 
grave  I  asked  my  brother,  E.  D.  G.  Prime,  to  call  on 
the  steward  of  the  seminary,  who  had  been  a  con- 
stant attendant  on  the  dying  saint,  and  to  learn  from 
him  what  were  some  of  his  last  utterances.  My  brother 
called,  and  the  steward  told  him  that  shortly  before  Dr. 
Alexander  died,  in  reply  to  some  remark  that  was  made, 
he  said,  "  All  my  theology  is  comprehended  in  this, 
Christ  Jesus  came  into  the  world  to  save  sinners."  In  my 
sketch  of  Dr.  Alexander  in  the  next  week's  "  Observer  " 
this  remarkable  saying  was  reported ;  it  was  copied  and 
commented  on  in  all  the  papers;  in  this  country  and 
abroad  it  was  spoken  of  as  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
sayings  ever  uttered  by  a  dying  teacher  of  theology.  I 
submitted  my  printed  sketch  to  James  W.  Alexander, 
with  a  request  that  he  would  point  out  any  inaccuracies 
in  it ;  he  made  several  pencil-marks,  but  this  statement 
he  did  not  alter.  But  in  the  biography  of  his  father, 
which  is  so  minute  as  to  become  a  large  volume,  and 
which  is  very  full  in  its  details  of  the  last  days  and  hours 
of  his  venerable  father,  this  saying  which  I  have  quoted, 
and  which  is  more  interesting  and  valuable  than  any 


196  SAMUEL  IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

other  of  the  good  man's  dying  sayings,  is  not  recorded. 
I  have  asked  many  persons,  who  might  be  supposed  to 
know,  what  reason  could  exist  for  such  an  omission,  but 
never  heard  even  a  conjectural  explanation.  The  father 
was  the  most  eminent  theological  teacher  ever  raised  up 
in  this  country.  The  son  was  the  most  accomplished 
clergyman  in  the  Presbyterian  Church  of  his  day.  His 
failure  to  leave  on  the  imperishable  pages  of  his  father's 
biography  this  dying  testimony  to  the  catholic  Christian 
faith  which  his  departing  spirit  trusted  in  as  the  sum 
and  substance  of  all  divine  truth,  is  to  my  mind  one  of 
the  unsolved  mysteries  of  religious  literature. 


XLII. 

THE  WESTON   ACADEMY. 

The  Sick  Student.  —  The  Academy  Endowment.  —  Li- 
censed TO  Preach.  —  Married.  —  Teaching  and  Learn- 
ing. —  The  Bible  Society  Address.  —  Preaching  at 
Fairfield. 

IN  less  than  three  months  after  entering  the  seminary 
I  was  "  used  up."  Incessant  study,  disturbed  sleep 
or  none,  little  exercise  and  strong  mental  excitement,  to 
say  nothing  of  the  diet  in  commons,  brought  on  dys- 
pepsia. I  went  home  during  the  Christmas  holidays, 
and  on  my  return  to  the  seminary  was  attacked  with 
inflammation  of  the  lungs.  The  disease  was  so  violent, 
and  resisted  all  remedies  with  such  obstinacy,  that  my 
life  was  despaired  of.  My  parents  and  brother  and 
sisters  came  on  to  Princeton  to  be  with  me.  I  recov- 
ered, and  early  in  March  was  able  to  be  taken  home. 
But  my  lungs  were  in  such  a  state  that  it  was  out  of 
the  question  for  me  to  think  of  returning  to  the  sem- 
inary to  study,  and  the  idea  of  my  ever  being  able  to 
speak  in  public  was  q.uite  improbable.  The  summer 
was  spent  in  recruiting  wasted  strength-  In  the  autumn 
I  was  so  far  restored  to  health  that  I  felt  disposed  to 
begin  to  do  something,  but  what,  it  was  impossible 
to  say. 

In  September,  1833,  having  received  an  invitation  to 
take  charge  of  an  academy  in  Weston,  Fairfield  County, 


1 98  SAMUEL  IREN.EUS   PRIME. 

Conn.,  I  visited  that  place  to  look  at  the  institution  and 
its  prospects.  In  a  secluded  rural  district,  I  found  a 
school-house,  a  church,  and  two  or  three  duelling- 
houses,  but  no  sign  of  a  village,  and  very  little  evidence 
of  any  materials  for  a  school.  But  the  academy  had  a 
foundation,  and  on  that  I  was  soon  disposed  to  build. 
Fifty  years  before,  Mr.  Staples  had  left  a  handsome  sum 
of  money  to  endow  a  free  school  in  this  place.  A  large 
part  of  the  endowment  was  invested  in  stock  of  the 
Eagle  Bank  in  New  Haven,  which  institution,  true  to  its 
name  and  to  the  Bible  declaration  respecting  riches, 
took  wings  and  flew  away,  and  the  money  was  lost. 

The  residue,  being  on  bond  and  mortgage  and  in  real 
estate,  was  now  yielding  a  small  sum,  which  was  made 
available  for  the  education  of  a  few  of  the  poorer  chil- 
dren in  the  neighborhood.  The  trustees  were  able  to 
offer  me  the  free  use  of  the  academy,  my  fuel,  all  the 
avails  of  the  tuition  money,  and  $250  per  annum.  This 
made  provision  at  once  for  my  support,  and  I  accepted 
the  proposition. 

At  the  October  meeting  of  the  Presbytery  of  Bedford, 
1833,  I  was  licensed  to  preach  the  gospel,  and  preached 
my  first  sermon  on  the  Sabbath  following  in  the  pulpit 
of  Rev.  Jacob  Green  in  Bedford,  N.  Y.,  from  John  iii.  14. 
On  the  fifteenth  of  the  same  month  I  was  married  to 
Elizabeth  Thornton  Kemeys,  of  Sing  Sing,  N.  Y.,  and  on 
the  same  day  left  home  for  my  new  field  of  labor.  No- 
vember 4,  1833,  on  the  day  when  I  became  twenty-one 
years  of  age,  I  opened  my  school  at  Weston  Academy. 
Seven  scholars  were  in  attendance  !  The  prospect  was 
far  from  being  brilliant.  But  the  support  was  so  secure 
that  it  required  no  great  amount  of  faith  to  keep  us  up. 
The  school  grew  rapidly  in  numbers.    In  less  than  three 


THE   WESTON   ACADEMY.  1 99 

months  there  were  seventy  pupils.  They  came  from 
four  and  five  miles  around,  in  wagons  and  on  horseback; 
even  young  ladies  came  daily  from  Greenfield  Hill  and 
other  villages.  I  had  an  assistant  in  one  of  the  more 
advanced  pupils,  who  knew  more  of  mathematics  than  I 
did.  I  sent  for  a  classmate  of  mine  in  college,  Rev. 
Marvin  Root,  who  soon  joined  me,  and  we  went  through 
the  winter  with  a  grand  school  and  great  success. 
Many  of  these  scholars  were  young  men  who  worked  on 
the  farm  in  the  summer,  devoting  the  winter  to  the 
pursuit  of  learning.  They  were  ravenous  for  knowledge. 
Awkward  and  uncouth  as  many  of  them  were  in  manner, 
their  minds  were  bright,  vigorous,  susceptible,  and  re- 
tentive.    It  was  a  joy  to  teach  them. 

A  few  days  after  I  came  to  Weston,  Deacon  Seely 
called  upon  me  with  an  invitation  to  preach  a  sermon 
before  a  Bible  Society  whose  anniversary  was  to  be 
held  a  week  from  that  day.  "  A  week  !  "  I  exclaimed  ; 
"why,  I  must  write  the  sermon,  and  it  is  impossible  for 
me  with  my  daily  duties  to  do  justice  to  the  subject  in 
a  zvceky 

"  Well,  you  could  n't,"  said  the  blunt  deacon,  "  if  you 
had  a  year."  I  consented,  and  preached  as  well  as  I 
could. 

A  committee  from  the  Congregational  Church  in  Fair- 
field came  up  and  invited  me  to  supply  their  pulpit  for 
three  months.  This  was  a  call  from  which  I  shrunk.  I 
had  not  half  a  dozen  sermons  in  the  world,  and  was 
teaching  all  day  and  studying  my  lessons  every  night. 
This  studying  lessons  was  a  terrible  task.  Some  of  the 
pupils  were  able  to  teach  me,  but  this  I  was  not  willing 
to  confess,  and  when  they  could  not  solve  a  problem  in 
mathematics  what  was  I  to  do?     One  day  a  young  man 


200  SAMUEL  IREN^US   PRIME. 

wanted  my  help  in  a  problem,  and  I  told  him  to  lca\c 
it,  and  I  would  work  it  out  after  school.  I  spent  the 
evenin^f^  on  it,  till  midniL^ht,  with  no  success.  Nearly 
crazed  with  the  excitement,  and  vexed  with  failure,  I 
went  to  bed.  Waking  or  dreaming,  I  do  not  know 
which,  the  solution  opened  before  me.  I  rose,  lighted 
my  candle,  and  wrote  it  down.  It  was  all  right  in  the 
morning.  With  such  labors  pressing  on  me  it  was 
doubtless  wrong  to  heed  the  Fairfield  invitation.  But  I 
accepted  it  and  for  three  months  supplied  the  pulpit ; 
oftentimes  exchanging  with  neighboring  ministers  when 
I  was  unable  to  make  preparation  for  the  services. 


XLIII. 

WESTON  AND  FAIRFIELD. 

Roger  M.  Sherman.  —  Chief-Justice  Daggett.  —  Hartford 
Convention.  —  The  Disputed  Boundary.  —  A  Violent 
Temper.  —  Greenfield  Hill.  —  Bereavement  and  Dis- 
couragement. 

"\T  7HILE  I  was  preaching  in  Fairfield,  during  my 
'  ^  residence  at  Weston,  Roger  M.  Sherman,  an 
eminent  lawyer,  and  son  of  one  of  the  signers  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  was  the  leading  man  in 
the  church.  He  invited  me  always  to  stop  at  his  house, 
and  his  acquaintance  was  a  treasure  and  blessing.  He 
was  profoundly  religious,  and  would  have  been  a  great 
theologian  if  he  had  not  been  a  great  jurist.  His  kind- 
ness to  me,  a  boy  minister  preaching  to  /iwi,  was  touch- 
ing, and  is  cherished  with  gratitude  now,  when  I  am  old 
and  he  is  among  the  angels  who  excel  in  strength. 

At  the  bar  he  was  ready  with  logic  or  wit.  In  a  suit 
where  Mr.  Daggett,  afterwards  chief-justice,  was  his 
opponent,  he  was  looking  up  a  reference,  and  being 
slow  in  finding  it,  Mr.  Daggett  to  bother  him  a  little 
said  playfully,  "  Brother  Sherman,  won't  you  have  my 
spectacles?"  "No,"  he  replied,  "there  was  never  any 
truth  discovered  through  your  spectacles." 

Mr.  Sherman  was  a  man  of  the  highest  order  of  in- 
tellect, and  would  have  been  a  prominent  man  in  the 
affairs  of  the  nation  had  he  not  been  "  implicated  "  in 


202  SAMUEL   IREN.EUS    TKIME. 

carl)-  life  in  the  Hartford  Convention  of  1815.  I  think 
he  was  a  member  of  it.  All  who  were  identified  with 
it  were  ever  after  under  a  cloud  of  suspicion.  Though 
the  convention  was  composed  of  pure  and  patriotic 
men,  they  adopted  some  principles  of  "State  rights" 
that  were  unsound  and  dangerous,  -  substantially  the 
same  with  those  on  which  the  Southern  States  after- 
ward based  their  doctrine  of  secession.  The  "  right  of 
secession  or  nullification"  is  substantially  affirmed  in 
the  declaration  put  forth  by  the  Hartford  Convention. 

My  association  with  Mr.  Sherman  was  a  source  of 
great  pleasure  and  advantage  to  me.  In  the  course  of 
the  winter  I  had  many  very  delightful  interviews,  in 
which  he  always  appeared  the  intelligent,  learned  man, 
a  great  lawyer,  and  a  modest,  humble  Christian.  He  is 
now  dead,  and  the  dwelling  in  which  I  had  these  inter- 
views with  him  is  the  parsonage  of  the  church  which  I 
served,  he  having  left  it  to  the  church  by  his  will.  He 
has  also  left  an  honored  name  that  will  be  long  held  in 
remembrance  and  veneration  in  the  community  and  the 
State. 

While  I  was  at  Weston  two  land- owners  came  to  me 
with  a  dispute  as  to  the  line  of  division  between  their 
farms.  The  case  was  one  of  those  that  have  so  often 
involved  the  most  protracted  and  expensive  litigation, 
with  serious  neighborhood  and  family  quarrels.  It  was 
a  serious  matter  for  me,  a  boy  of  twenty-one,  to  under- 
take the  decision  of  such  a  question,  but  they  submitted 
the  deeds  of  their  respective  farms  to  me  and  desired 
me  from  the  evidence  therein  contained  to  run  the  line. 
Surveying  was  one  of  the  branches  of  education  I  was 
then  teaching,  but  I  knew  little  enough  about  it.  I  took 
the  deeds,  drew  a  map  and  laid  off  the  farms,  and  found 


WESTON   AND    FAIRFIELD.  203 

where,  on  the  strength  of  the  surveys  described,  the 
dividing  hne  ought  to  be,  and  then  I  marked  it  on  my 
map.  The  decision  was  accepted,  and  as  it  has  been 
undisturbed  to  the  present,  it  will  probably  remain  un- 
disturbed hereafter.  Certainly  it  was  far  better  to  sub- 
mit the  matter  to  the  judgment  of  one  disinterested  per- 
son than  to  quarrel  about  it  through  life  and  then  leave 
it  as  a  bone  of  contention  to  their  heirs.  I  do  not  men- 
tion the  names  of  the  parties,  lest  the  mention  should 
lead  to  inquiry  about  the  line  !  The  original  parties  are 
dead,  and  I  buried  them  both. 

My  school  in  the  summer  season  was  not  so  large  as 
in  the  winter,  many  of  the  students  spending  their  time 
in  working  upon  farms.  But  it  was  sufficiently  large. 
Several  pupils  from  distant  places  came  to  board  with 
me  and  attend  school.  One  of  them  had  a  temper  of 
such  quickness  and  violence  that  he  was  a  dangerous 
compariion.  He  was  so  fierce  that  at  one  time  he 
plunged  the  staff  of  an  umbrella  into  the  face  of  one 
of  the  boys  and  came  near  to  destroying  his  eye.  It 
seemed  to  me  to  be  a  duty  to  send  him  home  to  his 
father  in  the  State  of  New  York.  This  I  did  at  once. 
The  boy  turned  out  well  afterward.  Whether  my 
prompt  and  energetic  action  was  useful  or  injurious,  I 
never  knew,  but  the  lad  went  to  college  and  the  Theol- 
ogical Seminary,  and  is  now  a  useful  minister  in  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  I  met  him  in  May,  1862,  in  the 
General  Assembly  at  Columbus,  Ohio. 

Greenfield  Hill  was  about  four  miles  from  Weston. 
This  is  the  beautiful  village  in  which  the  great  Dr. 
Timothy  Dwight  once  preached  and  taught  school. 
I  preached  several  times  in  the  large  church  there.  I 
need  not  say  that  neither  the  audiences  nor  the  sermons 


204  SAMUEL  IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

were  as  great  as  in  the  days  of  the  President  of  Yale 
College.  The  Hon.  Mr.  Tomlinson,  formerly  Governor 
of  the  State  and  member  of  Congress,  was  a  resident. 
As  he  was  a  trustee  of  the  academy  at  Weston,  I  was 
frequently  brought  into  contact  with  him,  and  remem- 
ber him  as  a  pleasant,  kind-hearted  gentleman.  He 
was  highly  esteemed  in  all  the  relations  of  private  and 
public  life. 

In  the  middle  of  the  summer  and  the  session  of  my 
school,  I  was  suddenly  broken  up  at  Weston  by  the 
death  of  my  wife.  We  had  been  married  less  than  a 
year.  This  blow  unfitted  me  to  pursue  my  labors  alone, 
and  I  left  Weston.  In  after  years  I  wrote  a  brief  biogra- 
phy of  my  departed  wife,  and  published  it  in  1840  under 
the  name  of  "  Elizabeth  Thornton." 

Thus  was  I  again  thrown  upon  the  world,  with  no  field 
of  labor  in  view,  and  with  little  heart  to  do  anything. 


XLIV. 
MY  FIRST  PASTORATE. 

Ballston  Spa.  —  Youthful  Labors.  —  A  Cold  Winter.  — 
The  Weak  Convert.  —  Biblical  Discussion.  —  An  Irre- 
ligious Husband. 

HAVING  heard  that  a  new  church  in  the  village  of 
Ballston  Spa,  N.  Y.,  was  in  want  of  a  pastor,  I 
went  there  in  October,  1834,  and  spent  a  Sabbath.  I 
preached  in  the  Court  House,  for  the  congregation  was 
newly  organized  and  had  no  house  of  their  own.  It 
was  certainly  remarkable  that  the  first  place  into  which 
I  came  to  preach  with  any  view  to  settlement  should  be 
part  of  the  same  town  in  which  I  was  born.  The  con- 
gregation was  a  colony  from  the  church  of  which  Rev. 
Stephen  Porter,  my  uncle,  was  pastor  when  I  was  born 
in  his  house.  I  had  never  visited  the  place  from  the 
first  year  of  my  life  till  now.  I  preached  twice  on  the 
Sabbath  and  attended  a  prayer-meeting  at  a  private 
house  in  the  evening.  This  prayer-meeting  was  com- 
posed of  people  of  several  churches,  and  some  of  them 
were  still  under  the  influence  of  a  revival  recently  en- 
joyed in  the  village.  In  the  meeting  a  colored  woman 
rose  and  made  an  ardent  address.  It  was  the  first  time 
I  had  heard  anything  of  the  kind,  and  it  startled  me. 
After  meeting  I  learned  that  she  was  a  member  of  the 
Baptist  church. 


206  SAMUEL  IREN^US   PRIME. 

I  entered  upon  the  pastoral  work  with  great  zeal,  and 
little  discretion.  Full  of  youthful  ardor  and  burning 
with  desire  to  win  souls  to  Christ,  and  to  build  up  the 
little  church,  I  began  a  round  of  duties,  or  rather  labors, 
sufficient  to  task  the  strength  of  the  strongest  man,  and 
I  was  a  feeble  youth.  The  congregation  was  scattered 
widel)'  and  I  visited  them  in  company  with  an  elder, 
going  from  house  to  house,  talking  and  praying  with 
them  all.  I  appointed  evening  meetings  in  remote 
school-houses,  and  as  they  were  better  attended  on 
Sabbath  evenings,  I  lectured  almost  every  Sunday 
night  after  having  preached  twice  during  the  day. 
These  evening  meetings  were  crowded  and  the  school- 
houses  hot.  The  winter  came  on  very  cold,  and  after 
meeting  I  would  ride  to  my  home  three  or  four  miles 
away.  Sometimes  I  stayed  at  the  farmers'  houses  and 
slept  in  cold  rooms,  though  accustomed  to  sleep  near  a 
fire.  The  weather  was  intensely  cold.  One  morning 
the  thermometer  marked  twenty  degrees  below  zero, 
yet  as  soon  as  breakfast  was  had,  I  set  off  in  a  sleigh 
on  a  round  of  pastoral  visitation,  kept  it  up  all  day, 
preached  at  a  country  school-house  in  the  evening,  and 
reached  home  at  bedtime.  This  winter's  work  injured 
me  for  life.  It  brought  on  the  bronchitis,  and  my  throat 
has  not  been  sound  to  this  day.  But  the  work  pros- 
pered greatly.  My  church  grew.  New  families  joined 
the  congregation.  Sinners  were  converted.  During 
the  whole  winter  it  was  a  continuous  gentle  revival. 

One  Sabbath-day,  as  I  was  preaching  in  the  Court 
House  to  a  large  audience,  there  was  a  singular  occur- 
rence. The  subject  of  discourse  was  the  lepers  of  Sama- 
ria who  reasoned  in  regard  to  casting  themselves  into 
the  hands  of  the  Syrians,  "  If  they  save  us  alive  we  shall 


MV    FIRST   PASTORATE.  207 

live,  if  they  kill  us  we  can  but  die."  I  closed  with  a  warm 
appeal  to  the  unconverted  to  come  to  Christ  now.  At 
the  close  of  the  prayer  after  sermon,  as  I  said  Amen  I 
was  startled  by  the  voice  of  a  man  on  the  floor  at  the 
foot  of  the  platform  on  which  I  was  standing.  He  had 
come  there  while  I  was  praying,  and  as  soon  as  I  had 
finished  he  cried  out  from  his  knees,  "  Is  there  no  help 
for  me?  "  Recovering  from  my  surprise,  I  addressed  a 
few  words  to  him,  and  then  asked  the  congregation  to 
join  with  me  in  special  prayer  in  his  behalf.  In  a  few 
days  I  heard  that  he  had  found  peace  in  believing.  But 
he  proved  to  be  a  weak  and  fanatical  man,  who  never 
did  any  great  credit  to  religion.  Perhaps  he  was  one  of 
my  converts,  not  the  Lord's. 

In  the  neighborhood  was  an  excellent  old  man,  whose 
son  was  one  of  the  elders  of  our  church,  but  the  father 
was  a  Methodist.  Whenever  I  was  there  visiting  or 
preaching,  I  stayed  at  his  house.  Old  Mr.  Beach  always 
wanted  me  to  argue  with  him  on  the  points  of  Calvinism, 
which  he  hated  intensely.  He  would  never  let  me  off 
without  inviting  a  discussion,  which  I  always  declined, 
telling  him  that  we  were  such  good  friends  and  had 
such  pleasant  times  together  that  I  would  prefer  not  to 
run  the  risk  of  our  getting  into  a  quarrel.  But  he  would 
not  be  satisfied.  At  length,  one  day  when  he  was  very 
urgent,  I  said  that  I  would  go  into  the  matter  with  him 
if  we  could  both  confine  ourselves  to  the  Bible.  One 
should  present  a  passage  in  support  of  his  view,  and  the 
other  should  explain  it  and  then  give  another.  To  this 
he  consented  and  told  me  to  begin.  I  said,  "  The  Lord 
hath  made  all  things  for  himself,  even  the  wicked  for  the 
day  of  evil."  "  What's  that?"  said  he;  "  I  never  read 
that  in  the  Bible  ;  where  is  it?"    "  Oh,  yes,"  I  replied,  "  it 


208  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS    PRIME. 

is  in  the  proverbs  of  Solomon."  "  Solomon,  Solomon," 
he  cried,  "  the  old  debauchee  ;  who  cares  what  Solomon 
says?  "  "  Oh,  well,"  I  said,  "  if  you  don't  care  what  the 
Bible  says,  there  is  no  need  of  my  saying  anything,  so 
we  have  come  to  the  end  of  the  argument  at  the  be- 
ginning."    Our  discussion  was  never  resumed. 

Among  ni}'  hearers  was  the  wife  of  a  rich  man,  but 
irreligious,  and  reputed  to  be  an  enemy  of  religion  and 
inclined  to  persecute  his  wife,  who  was  a  regular  attend- 
ant at  church,  though  not  a  member.  We  had  been 
holding  a  series  of  religious  union  meetings,  and  had  in- 
vited those  who  desired  religious  conversation  to  come 
forward  to  the  front  seats.  One  morning  I  was  sur- 
prised by  a  call  at  my  study  from  this  gentleman,  to 
whom  I  had  scarcely  ever  spoken.  He  came  hurriedly 
into  my  room  and  took  a  seat,  saying  that  he  had  come 
to  me  on  a  very  serious  errand.  I  expressed  pleasure 
in  seeing  him,  and  he  went  on :  — 

"  I  have  come  to  ask  a  favor,  a  very  great  favor,  of 
you,  sir,  and  I  hope  you  will  not  refuse  me."  I  replied 
that  I  would  gladly  do  anything  in  my  power  to  serve 
him. 

"  Well,  you  know,  I  presume,  Mr.  Prime,  that  it  is  my 
misfortune  to  be  married  to  one  of  the  worst  of  women." 
I  interrupted  him  to  say  that  I  knew  nothing  of  the 
sort;  he  proceeded:  "  It  is  true,  one  of  the  very  worst, 
and  I  do  not  believe  that  anything  short  of  the  grace  of 
God  will  ever  make  her  any  better ;  and  I  have  called 
to  ask  you  if  you  will  not  make  some  special  effort  to 
get  her  converted.  It  would  be  a  great  step  tou'ard  it 
to  get  her  on  the  anxious  seat,  and  I  want  you  to  try  to 
persuade  her  to  go  there  the  next  time  you  see  her  in 
meeting."     I  now  perceived  that  he  was  either  seeking 


MY    FIRST   PASTORATE.  209 

to  make  a  fool  of  me  or  his  wife,  and  I  said,  "  I  will  do 
all  I  can  to  persuade  your  wife  and  others  to  seek  re- 
ligion,—  that  is  my  duty;  and  I  will  tell  you  what  I 
think  will  be  one  of  the  most  likely  things  to  interest 
her  in  the  matter."  "  What 's  that?  "  he  asked,  eagerly. 
"  Why,  to  seek  it  yourself."  "  That 's  out  of  the  ques- 
tion," he  answered,  roughly.  "  Not  at  all,"  said  I,  and 
began  to  argue  the  question,  but  he  cut  me  short.  "  I 
did  not  come  here  to  talk  about  myself,"  he  said.  But 
I  continued  to  urge  the  point,  and  he  left  me  as  abruptly 
as  he  entered. 


14 


XLV. 

THE  BALLSTON    CHURCH. 

BuFLT  BY  Two  Cents.— The  Candid  Patient. —  Aaron  and 
HuR.  —  Unhappy  Texts. 

AFTER  accepting  the  call  to  Ballston  I  continued 
to  preach  in  the  Court  House.  But  the  people, 
very  soon  after  my  coming  among  them,  went  to  work 
in  earnest  to  build  a  church.  There  were  no  rich  men 
among  them.  The  wealthiest  was  Michael  Middlebrook, 
an  old  bachelor  farmer,  deformed  and  diseased,  a  good 
man  whom  all  respected  highly.  He  subscribed  $300, 
several  others  $2CX)  each.  These  were  considered  liberal 
subscriptions.  Together  they  amounted  to  about  half 
the  sum  necessary.  Then  it  was  proposed  that  I 
should  visit  the  other  churches  of  the  Presbj'tery  (of 
Albany)  and  ask  for  aid.  I  selected  Johnstown  as  the 
first  to  be  attempted.  Arranging  the  time  by  corre- 
spondence, I  went  there  and  preached  a  sermon  in 
which  I  demonstrated  to  my  own  satisfaction,  and  I 
hoped  to  that  of  the  people,  that  our  new  church  enter- 
prise at  Ballston  Spa  was  one  of  the  most  important 
objects  of  Christian  benevolence,  and  I  appealed  to 
them  most  earnestly  to  give  liberally  to  help  us  on  in 
our  great  work.  Having  concluded  my  appeal,  and 
being  very  anxious  for  the  result,  I  leaned  my  head  on 
my  hand  and  looked  down  from  the  high  pulpit  to  see 
the    gold    poured    into    the    plates    as    the  elders  went 


THE   BALLSTOX   CHURCH.  211 

around  for  the  contribution.  The  first  man,  a  well-to- 
do-looking  farmer,  put  in  one  cent.  The  next,  of  the 
same  stamp,  put  in  one  cent.  I  did  not  look  any  further. 
The  collection  amounted  to  $13  and  some  cents.  I 
returned  home  the  next  day,  crestfallen  indeed,  but 
filled  with  one  new  idea.  I  called  the  people  together, 
reported  my  success,  told  the  story  of  the  two  cents,  and 
then  said  if  any  more  foreign  begging  was  done,  some 
one  else  would  do  it.  They  talked  the  matter  over. 
Michael  Middlebrook  said  he  would  give  half  of  his 
subscription  in  addition,  making  $450.  Every  man 
halved  his  in  the  same  way.  That  gave  us  three  quarters 
of- all  that  was  wanted.  The  church  was  then  built,  and 
seats  were  sold  to  pay  nearly  the  whole  of  the  remain- 
der. So  those  two  cents  built  the  church.  If  I  had 
raised  $100  instead  of  $13,  I  should  have  gone  on  and 
on  and  perhaps  picked  up  a  thousand  in  all,  and  the 
people -would  have  done  no  more,  and  perhaps  would 
have  nad  a  debt  to  this  day.  I  have  told  this  story 
many  times  since,  and  it  has  stimulated  many  people  to 
help  themselves  rather  than  to  depend  on  foreign  aid. 

My  first  year  of  pastoral  work  was  marked  by  many 
peculiar  incidents.  At  a  meeting  of  Session  it  was 
mentioned  that  reports  were  in  circulation  to  the  effect 
that  one  of  the  older  members  of  the  church  was  in  the 
habit  of  indulging  too  freely  in  the  use  of  strong  drink. 
After  some  deliberation  it  was  thought  best  that  the 
minister  and  one  of  the  elders  should  call  on  him  and 
endeavor  to  influence  him  for  the  better,  if  it  were  true 
as  reported.  Accordingly  I  went  with  one  of  the  elders 
to  see  him.  He  was  at  least  three  times  as  old  as  I  was, 
a  tall,  venerable  man,  a  plain  farmer,  of  excellent  char- 
acter.    When  I  sat  down  before  him  it  seemed  to  me 


212  SAMUEL   IREN.ia'S    PRIME. 

much  more  becoming  that  he  should  talk  to  me,  a  boy, 
rather  than  that  I  should  lecture  him  on  any  of  his  hab- 
its. However,  duty  was  to  be  done,  and  I  began.  After 
much  circumlocution  and  various  excuses  and  episodes 
I  finally  managed  to  bring  out  the  great  fact  that  we 
had  been  sorry  to  hear  that  a  report  had  got  abroad 
that  he  was  sometimes  in  the  habit  of  making  too  much 
use  of  intoxicating  liquors.  It  was  out,  and  I  held  my 
breath  to  hear  his  reply.  "  Well,  I  would  n't  wonder 
now  if  it  was  so,  not  a  bit,  for  the  fact  is,  I  'm  so  troubled 
with  t\\Qjlinuiiatary  rimmath,  that  I  have  to  bathe  my- 
self ex/rtrnally  and  in/^?rnally  with  cider  brandy." 

We  gave  him  a  few  words  of  caution,  assured  him  of 
our  sympathy,  and  after  praying  with  him,  came  away 
without  any  serious  apprehensions  for  his  safety.  Had 
he  been  fond  of  "  drink,"  he  would  not  have  been  so 
ready  to  tell  us  all  about  it.  He  lived  on  ten,  fifteen,  I 
do  not  know  but  twenty  years  longer,  and  then  died 
universally  respected,  no  one  ever  hearing  of  his  being 
"  worse  for  liquor." 

Coming  home  from  a  service  where  I  had  preached 
from  the  words,  "  And  Aaron  and  Hur  stayed  up  his 
hands,"  one  of  the  congregation,  a  prominent  man  in 
the  town,  said  to  me,  "  I  wonder  you  did  n't  touch  on 
the  argument  in  favor  of  female  influence  in  that  text 
to-night."  I  replied  that  "  I  don't  see  where  it  comes 
in."  "  Why,"  said  he,  "  it  says  her  stayed  up  his  hands 
as  much  as  Aaron  did."  He  thought  Hur  was  the  pro- 
noun lier  for  sJie.  I  made  the  best  of  it  by  admitting 
frankly  "  I  never  thought  of  it  before."  But  it  taught 
me  to  be  very  careful  to  explain  terms,  if  a  man  who 
ought  to  he  as  intelligent  as  any  one  of  ni>-  hearers 
conld  make  such  a  blunder. 


THE   BALLSTON   CHURCH.  213 

An  ardent  Universalist  called  upon  me  and  asked 
me  to  attend  the  funeral  of  a  man  who  had  committed 
suicide  by  hanging  himself,  a  miserable  drunkard  with- 
out friends  or  relativ^es.  He  said  it  would  be  expected 
that  I  should  preach  a  sermon.  As  he  was  very  im- 
portunate I  consented  to  do  so,  and  on  going  to  the 
hovel  in  the  field  where  the  body  lay,  about  to  be 
buried  at  the  expense  of  the  town,  I  found  the  place 
full  as  it  could  be  of  a  class  of  people  very  like  the 
deceased.  The  man  who  had  asked  me  to  attend  stood 
by  the  rude  coffin,  and  directly  in  front  of  me,  as  I 
preached  from  the  verse  in  Revelation  which  contains 
"  the  lake  which  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone,"  It 
was  an  unwise  selection  of  a  subject,  and  it  would  have 
been  much  better  to  have  given  such  an  audience  the 
sweetest  words  of  the  gospel.  I  had  a  good  hint  on  this 
subject  at  another  time  when  I  was  riding  with  Elder 
Corey  on  a  Sabbath  afternoon,  to  the  poorhouse  of  the 
county,  where  I  had  made  an  appointment  to  preach. 
"  Well,"  said  I,  "  it  is  about  time  I  had  found  a  subject 
for  my  discourse.  I  have  made  no  preparation,  have 
not  even  a  text ;  suppose  I  take  *  The  poor  have  the 
gospel  preached  to  them.'  "  The  good  elder  mused  a 
minute  and  said,  "  Well,  now,  it  seems  to  me  it 's  hard 
enough  to  have  to  live  on  pudding  and  milk  without 
being  twitted  of  it.  If  I  were  you  I  would  take  a  text 
that  would  not  remind  them  of  anything  peculiar  in 
their  condition ;  talk  to  them  as  sinners  saved  by  grace 
or  in  need  of  a  Saviour,  and  you  will  be  more  likely  to 
reach  the  mark."  This  was  sound  advice,  good  sense, 
and  showed  a  knowledge  of  human  nature.  I  acted 
upon  it.  Afterward  I  preached  there  from  the  words 
"  Are  the  consolations  of  God  small  with  thee?  " 


XLVI. 

MY   BRIEF   PASTORATE. 

The  Dying  Mother.  —  Dr.  Kirk's  Advice.  —  Zeal  that 
Consumed.  — Rest  and  Resignation. —  Removal  to  New- 
burgh. 

DURING  my  pastorate  in  Ballston  I  wrote  in  a  note- 
book a  few  sketches  of  some  incidents  which 
made  a  deep  impression  on  my  mind  and  heart.  One 
of  these  I  subsequently  prepared  as  an  article  for  the 
"  New  York  Observer,"  which  was  the  first  of  my  regu- 
lar contributions  with  the  signature  "  Irenaeus."  An- 
other of  these  is  the  record  of  the  death-bed  experience 
of  a  mother,  which  I  reproduce  here  as  an  affecting  in- 
cident in  the  first  year  of  my  ministry.  I  was  called  to 
visit  a  lady  who  was  the  mother  of  four  children,  the 
youngest  of  whom  had  been  born  but  four  days  before. 
She  had  cultivated  her  own  heart  with  diligence,  and 
religion  had  thrown  around  her  disposition,  which  was 
naturally  the  sweetest,  all  those  charms  which  make 
their  possessor  the  idol  of  all  hearts  —  and  the  envy  of 
none.     To  see  her  was  to  love  her. 

Her  intellect,  which  was  of  the  finest  mould,  had  been 
improved  by  a  finished  education,  and  the  society  of 
the  city  had  given  to  her  manner  the  polish  of  refine- 
ment, and  enabled  her  to  adorn  the  sphere  which  she 
cheered  by  her  smiles.     As  a  wife  she  was  affectionate 


MY   BRIEF   PASTORATE.  215 

and  devoted,  and  all  that  affection  was  returned  by  the 
fondest  love  and  assiduous  kindness  of  one  of  the  ten- 
derest  of  husbands  and  most  amiable  of  men. 

But  as  a  mother  Mrs.  E.  was  pecuharly  distinguished. 
Naturally  of  a  domestic  turn  of  mind,  she  devoted  much 
of  her  time  to  the  moral  and  intellectual  instruction  of 
her  children.  They  were  excellent  illustrations  of  the 
power  of  a  mother  to  exert  a  great  and  admirable  in- 
fluence upon  those  whom  God  has  intrusted  to  her  to 
be  formed  for  virtue  and  honors.  Their  minds  were 
stored  with  all  that  knowledge  which  children  so  young 
were  capable  of  understanding,  and  their  tempers  and 
dispositions  so  happily  governed  that  the  duty  of  in- 
struction and  of  learning  was  not  considered  a  task  but 
a  pleasure,  both  by  mother  and  little  ones. 

This  lovely  mother  being  sick  with  a  deadly  fever,  I 
received  from  her  husband  the  following  note:  "Dear 
Sir,  —  My  poor  wife,  whom  we  have  given  up,  desires  to 
see  you  and  to  converse  with  you.  Will  you  come  and 
see  us  in  this  hour  of  affliction.     Yours,  J.  E." 

Without  the  least  delay  I  hurried  to  her  bedside.  I 
had  been  absent  from  the  place  and  had  not  heard  of 
her  situation,  or  should  have  been  there  before.  I  found 
her  in  doubt  and  darkness.  The  message  of  death  had 
fallen  unexpectedly  upon  her  ear,  and  the  violence  of 
the  news  had  shaken  her  confidence  in  God.  Her  dis- 
composure evidently  proceeded  from  the  shock  which 
nature  had  received  by  the  sudden  approach  of  the  king 
of  terrors. 

I  endeavored  to  lead  her  to  a  deep  and  careful  exam- 
ination of  the  ground  on  which  she  had  trusted  in  times 
past,  to  lay  open  the  way  of  salvation  through  Jesus 
Christ,  and  to  convince  her  that  although  she  might 


2l6  SAMUEL   IRLN.liUS    PRIME. 

never  have  given  up  her  soul  into  the  hands  of  the  Lord, 
she  could  do  so  then  and  be  safe.  She  was  too  feeble 
to  converse  much,  and  I  prayed  with  her  and  soon 
left  her. 

She  lamented  deeply  her  unfaithful  life.  She  felt  that 
she  had  not  been  as  active  and  devoted  in  her  Christian 
course  as  she  ought  to  have  been.  She  was  distressed 
with  a  sense  of  her  past  neglect  of  duty  and  her  own 
backwardness  in  the  cause  of  Christ.  But  she  had  lived 
a  consistent  and  devoted  life,  and  we  who  wept  around 
her  sorrowed  that  she  could  not  derive  that  satisfaction 
from  the  review  which  we  received. 

In  the  evening  I  visited  her  again,  and  found  that  she 
had  passed  from  darkness  into  light.  The  clouds  that 
had  obscured  her  mind  had  vanished,  and  she  now  was 
settled  in  her  faith,  her  feet  were  on  the  rock.  She  had 
discovered  the  foundation  and  was  resting  thereon.  On 
the  next  day  I  found  her  rapidly  drawing  nigh  to  the 
gate  of  heaven.  Her  speech  had  so  far  failed  her  that 
she  could  only  reply  in  single  sj'llables  to  questions 
which  we  proposed.  Ilcr  only  sister,  who  was  at  Al- 
bany, and  whom  she  had  manifested  the  strongest  de- 
sire to  see,  had  arrived,  and  she  seemed  exceedingly 
gratified  at  the  opportunity  of  meeting  her  again.  Her 
little  ones  were  now  brought  to  her,  and  she  took  leave 
of  them  with  tenderness  and  composure.  She  intrusted 
them  to  the  care  of  their  father,  and  committed  them  to 
the  hands  of  Him  who  had  promised  to  "  take  them 
up."  During  her  sickness  she  had  prayed  much  for 
them,  and  always  manifested  the  most  perfect  assurance 
that  the  Lord  would  be  their  portion  and  the  guide  of 
their  tender  years.  She  derived  consolation  from  the 
fact  that  she  had  labored  assiduously  to  instil  into  their 


MY   BRIEF   PASTORATE.  2l7 

minds  those  principles  of  virtue  which  would  be  a  safe- 
guard amid  the  temptations  of  youth  and  the  snares  of 
a  deceitful  world,  and  in  faith  in  the  goodness  of  God 
she  was  enabled  to  resign  them  unreservedly  to  him. 

But  the  hour  of  her  departure  was  at  hand.  She  saw 
the  approach  of  death,  but  was  unmoved  by  the  sight. 
Gradually  she  sunk  into  his  arms,  and  with  the  clear  ex- 
ercise of  all  her  faculties,  with  a  bright  faith  in  the 
merits  of  Christ,  and  a  perfect  confidence  of  her  accep- 
tance with  him  she  fell  asleep. 

After  having  preached  and  labored  in  Ballston  for 
several  months,  I  was  ordained  in  the  summer  of  1835 
in  the  Court  House,  as  the  new  church  was  not  yet  fin- 
ished. Rev.  E.  N.  Kirk,  of  Albany,  preached  the  ser- 
mon. While  he  was  in  my  study  he  said  to  me  :  "  Write 
for  the  press.  Cultivate  the  habit.  Write  often.  Write 
your  sermons,  and  do  not  depend,  as  I  have  done,  on 
extempore  efforts,  but  write,  —  and  write  for  the  press ; 
the  press  is  to  be  the  great  instrument  of  power  in  this 
country."  These  words  made  a  deep  and  permanent 
impression,  and  exerted  a  lasting,  if  not  a  guiding  in- 
fluence on  my  subsequent  life.  I  was  married  in  Au- 
gust to  Eloisa  L.  Williams,  daughter  of  Moses  Williams, 
one  of  the  members  of  the  church  of  which  I  was  now 
the  pastor. 

During  all  the  summer  I  had  been  troubled  with  sore 
throat.  Dr.  Freeman  had  prescribed  repeatedly  for  the 
trouble,  but  it  grew  worse  rather  than  better.  In  the 
fall,  as  the  cool  weather  came  on,  it  was  much  more 
troublesome,  and  I  became  convinced  that  I  must  rest 
from  preaching  and  have  time  to  recover.  The  church 
building  was  now  finished,  and  after  dedicating  it  I  took 
six  months'  leave  of  absence  and  went  down  to  New- 


2l8  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

burgh,  on  the  Hudson  River,  where  my  parents  were 
now  residing. 

Thus  my  first  pastoral  labors  were  of  little  more  than 
a  year's  duration.  But  they  were  of  lasting  influence 
upon  my  future  life.  I  entered  upon  my  work  with 
ardor,  amounting  to  enthusiasm,  preached  far  more  than 
was  proper  and  under  circumstances  that  exposed  me 
to  immediate  injury,  neglected  my  study  for  the  sake  of 
visiting  the  people,  aimed  at  present  impression  rather 
than  solid  instruction,  and  in  a  few  months  was  used  up. 
It  is  strange  that  my  elders  and  other  friends  did  not 
check  my  zeal  or  direct  it  more  wisely.  They  rather 
urged  me  on.  Somebody  was  always  wanting  me  to  go 
here  or  there.  I  have  actually  known  appointments  to 
be  made  and  given  out  for  me  to  preach  at  certain 
places,  without  any  previous  consultation  with  me,  and 
in  one  or  two  instances  two  or  three  were  made  for  the 
same  evening  miles  asunder ! 

But  it  was  a  year  of  usefulness.  I  had  the  joy  of  see- 
ing some  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth.  The 
church  was  built  up  spiritually,  while  the  temple  itself 
was  rising  from  the  corner-stone  which  I  laid  with  my 
youthful  hands.  I  saw  it  finished  and  dedicated,  with 
an  overflowing  congregation  in  it,  and  then  I  was  obliged 
to  leave  it  with  only  a  faint  hope  of  returning.  I  spent 
the  winter  away,  and  at  the  end  of  six  months  was  in  no 
condition  to  resume  the  work.  My  people  then  pro- 
posed that  I  try  an  absence  for  a  year.  But  I  declined 
on  their  account  to  take  such  a  vacation  and  resigned 
my  pastoral  charge.  I  went  up  to  Ballston,  preached 
a  farewell  sermon,  and  returned  to  Newburgh,  where  I 
had  charge  of  the  academy,  a  high  school  for  boys. 


XLVII. 
NEWBURGH-ON-THE-HUDSON. 

The    Academy.  —  Small-Pox.  —  Foreign    Missions.  —  Dr. 
Johnston.  —  Recovered  Health. 

MY  last  letter  closed  with  an  account  of  the  circum- 
stances in  which  I  left  Ballston  and  removed  to 
Newburgh-on-the-Hudson.  At  Newburgh  I  entered 
immediately  upon  the  charge  of  the  academy,  my 
father  having  been  appointed  its  principal,  though  his 
time  was  occupied  with  a  female  seminary  in  the  same 
place.  He  had  taken  a  house  in  which  there  were  a 
few  pupils  as  boarders,  and  in  this  my  wife  and  I  took 
up  our  residence  for  the  winter.  A  few  days  after  our 
arrival  my  wife  was  seized  with  the  small-pox.  We  had 
eight  boys  and  young  men  in  the  house,  all  of  whom 
had,  of  course,  been  exposed  by  being  near  her  before 
it  was  developed.  What  to  do  with  these  pupils  it  was 
very  difficult  for  me  to  determine.  If  I  sent  them  to 
their  several  homes  I  might  send  the  disease  into  as 
many  families.  If  I  kept  them  all  there  some  of  them 
might  die  of  it,  and  I  should  be  reproached  for  detain- 
ing them  after  the  danger  was  discovered.  After  serious 
and  anxious  deliberation  I  decided  that  it  was  d2ity  to 
keep  them,  and  not  to  expose  others  through  them. 
Taking  the  two  oldest,  and  informing  them  of  the  state 
of  things,  and  requesting  them  to  assume  the  charge  of 
the  household,  I  shut  myself  up  with  my  wife  and  nursed 


220  SAMUEL   IREN.-EUS   PRIME. 

her  through  one  of  the  worst  cases  of  maHgnant  con- 
fluent small-pox.  There  was  not  a  place  on  her  face 
where  the  point  of  a  pin  could  be  placed  without  touch- 
ing a  sore.  Yet  she  lived,  and  was  not  marked  in  the 
slightest  degree.  And  I  do  not  recollect  that  I  ever 
thought  while  she  was  sick  whether  she  would  be 
marked  or  not.  Not  one  of  the  pupils  nor  any  other 
member  of  the  family  took  the  disease. 

After  her  recovery  I  entered  earnestly  upon  the  work 
of  teaching,  having  among  my  pupils  several  young 
men  who  were  afterwards  useful  and  excellent  ministers 
of  the  gospel.  During  this  period  I  made  numerous 
contributions  to  the  newspaper  published  at  Ncwburgh, 
many  of  which  were  used  editorially.  I  remember  that 
some  of  these  related  to  the  terminus  of  the  Erie  Rail- 
road, and  advocated  Newburgh  as  more  desirable  for 
this  purpose  than  Piermont.  It  had  been  my  custom 
to  contribute  twenty-five  dollars  a  year  to  the  cause  of 
Foreign  Missions,  but  my  income  from  teaching  was 
now  so  small  that  this  seemed  a  very  large  sum  for  any 
purpose  whatever,  benevolent  or  selfish.  One  evening 
my  wife  and  I  were  discussing  the  practicability  of  mak- 
ing the  usual  annual  contribirtion,  until  I  concluded  by 
saying,  "  Well,  I  am  going  to  give  the  twenty-five  dol- 
lars an}'  way."  Before  the  evening  was  over  the  editor 
made  a  friendly  call,  and  as  he  retired  handed  me 
twenty-five  dollars  in  payment  for  articles  which  had 
been  written  without  any  expectation  of  remuneration. 
It  seemed  to  us  at  the  time  that  this  was  a  special  provi- 
sion for  our  relief  in  making  the  usual  contribution  to 
Foreign  Missions. 

Dr.  John  Johnston  was   at   this    time    pastor  of  the 
Presbyterian    Church   in    Newburgh,   which   relation   he 


NEWBURGH-ON-THE-HUDSON.     .  221 

had  sustained  since  1807,  when  this  church  was  associ- 
ated with  the  one  at  New  Windsor.  In  18 10  the  New- 
burgh  church  was  strong  enough  to  secure  his  services 
for  itself.  This  pastorate  extended  through  nearly  half 
a  century.  For  thirty-three  years  of  this  time  he  labored 
in  great  harmony  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  McCarrell,  pastor 
of  the  Associate  Reformed  Church,  and  for  thirty-nine 
years  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Brown,  rector  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  Newburgh.  I  have  often  found 
occasion  to  speak  and  write  of  that  excellent  and  useful 
man,  whose  walk  and  conversation  were  without  spot 
and  blameless,  and  whose  life  was  one  long  testimony  to 
the  power  of  simple  goodness.  He  was  greatly  blessed 
in  his  wife,  who  watched  over  him  like  a  mother.  He 
has  said,  playfully,  at  my  table,  when  pressed  to  take 
this  or  that,  "  My  wife  does  not  allow  it."  Oliver  Gold- 
smith had  him  to  sit  for  his  portrait  when  he  drew  the 
picture  'of  the  village  pastor,  who  "  watched  and  wept, 
and  prayed,  and  felt  for  all."  He  rarely  preached  a 
sermon  without  weeping.  But  he  was  sincere,  feeling 
all  he  said  as  he  pleaded  with  sinners  and  with  saints. 
His  tears  were  no  evidence  of  weakness,  for  he  had 
immense  energy,  industry,  and  endurance.  He  went 
about  doing  good,  with  vitality  and  perseverance  rarely 
equalled  in  the  ministry. 

For  a  year  and  a  half  I  remained  at  Newburgh  teach- 
ing. Though  I  had  advantageous  offers  from  leading 
citizens  in  regard  to  the  establishment  of  an  academy 
on  a  good  financial  basis,  my  health  had  improved  so 
much  that  I  was  again  ready  to  undertake  the  work  of 
a  pastorate.  How  this  took  place  will  be  recorded  in 
another  letter. 


XLVIII. 

MATTEAWAN. 

Installation.  —  Christian  Union.  —  Scenery  and  Summer. 
—  Church  and  People. — Observing  and  Recording. 

DURING  the  year  and  a  half  in  which  I  taught  the 
academy  at  Newburgh  I  was  frequently  invited 
to  preach  in  neighboring  churches,  and  occasionally  in 
Matteawan,  Dutchess  county,  N.  Y.,  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  river,  about  a  mile  from  Fishkill  Landing.  This 
resulted  in  my  being  called  to  the  Presbyterian  Church 
at  Matteawan,  where  I  was  installed  May  23.  1837.  My 
father,  Rev.  N.  S.  Prime,  delivered  the  charge  to  the 
pastor  on  that  occasion,  and  it  was  printed  at  the  re- 
quest of  a  large  number.  This  request  as  it  is  printed 
on  the  fly-leaf  shows  that  the  spirit  of  Christian  union 
was  a  practical  force  at  that  day  in  that  community.  It 
is  signed  by  a  committee  appointed  "  at  a  meeting  of  a 
number  of  the  inhabitants  of  this  village  from  the  sev- 
eral religious  denominations,"  and  besides  the  members 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church,  the  committee  included  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Dutch  Reformed,  Methodist,  Baptist 
and  ICpiscopal  churches. 

Many  of  my  impressions  and  experiences  during  my 
Matteawan  pastorate  arc  given  in  two  of  my  small 
books,  "  Records  of  a  Village  Pastor,"  and  "The  High- 
land Pastor."     In  the   introductory  pages  of  the   first- 


MATTEAWAN.  223 

mentioned  I  have  given  a  sketch  of  my  church  and  its 
surroundings,  without  giving  any  names.  As  this  was 
written  and  pubHshed  during  my  residence  at  Mattea- 
wan,  I  repeat  it  in  this  connection  as  being  better  than 
a  recollection  after  many  years  :  — 

"Often  have  I  blessed  the  Lord  for  his  kindness  in 
casting  my  lot  in  this  pleasant  place,  and  in  giving  me 
a  heritage  among  this  people.  The  village  lies  a  mile 
from  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  and  at  the  northern  base 
of  the  Highlands.  Nature  could  scarcely  have  done 
more  for  us,  and  if  we  are  not  happy  among  ourselves, 
it  is  because  the  gifts  of  Providence  and  the  richer  gifts 
of  grace  are  slighted  and  abused. 

"  Strangers  that  visit  this  region,  in  the  summer  sea- 
son especially,  admire  the  peace  that  prevails  in  the  vil- 
lage, the  beauty  of  the  scenery  that  surrounds  it,  and  the 
neatness  and  order  that  mark  its  streets  and  dwellings. 
The  simple  Grecian  temple  and  the  parsonage  adjoining 
always  attract  attention  as  objects  of  interest,  and  the 
taste  displayed  in  their  arrangement  and  construction 
impresses  the  visitor  with  the  fact  that  the  villagers 
prize  the  institutions  of  religion.  If  the  stranger  should 
extend  his  inquiries  he  would  not  be  long  in  learning 
that  the  external  appearances  of  regard  for  the  order  of 
God's  house,  and  the  comfort  of  the  pastor  and  his  fam- 
ily, are  also  indications  of  the  value  they  set  upon  the 
means  of  grace ;  and  should  he  pursue  his  acquaint- 
ance he  would  find  that  in  the  public  services  of  the 
sanctuary,  in  the  social  prayer-meeting,  and  in  the  daily 
duties  of  the  parish,  the  pastor  and  people  are  happy 
in  each  other's  love.  The  Spirit  of  God  often  lingers 
among  these  hills  and  visits  the  hearts  of  the  cottages ; 
refreshing  the  humble  believer  with  his  gracious  influ- 


224  SAMUEL   IREN.-EUS    PRIME. 

encc,  and  winning  the  sinner  to  the  embrace  of  Jesus. 
These  seasons  of  revival  we  have  found  to  be  the  sweet- 
est of  our  blessings;  and  there  arc  some  who  are  never 
happy  unless  evidence  is  given  that  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
hovering  over  us,  or  descending  with  converting  and 
sanctifying  power. 

"  Death  knows  our  village.  Sad  for  us  would  it  be  if 
we  forgot  that  we  must  die.  Often,  often  since  I  have 
been  the  shepherd,  has  the  owner  called  for  one  and  an- 
other of  the  flock,  —  most  frequently  for  the  lambs  ;  and 
these  calls  have  served  to  remind  us  that  health  and 
happiness  are  no  security  against  the  great  Destroyer. 

"  For  my  ow^n  gratification,  and  with  the  hope  of  do- 
ing good  to  others,  it  has  been  my  practice  to  make 
hasty  records  of  passing  providences ;  and  sometimes 
those  events  that  in  themselves  have  appeared  to  pos- 
sess no  special  interest  have  suggested  thoughts  solemn 
and  perhaps  not  altogether  unprofitable.  This  habit  of 
recordhig  has  induced  a  habit  oi  observing ;  so  that  it  is 
seldom  I  visit  a  sick  chamber  or  meet  with  an  anxious 
sinner  that  my  own  heart  is  not  impressed  with  some 
truth  that  if  suitably  improved  would  make  me  a  better 
man.  Not  unfrequently  the  incident  has  been  so  un- 
important that  I  have  suft"ered  it  to  pass,  while  the  train 
of  thought  awakened  has  been  preserved;  and  by  fol- 
lowing up  this  habit  for  years,  the  records  have  multi- 
plied on  my  hands.  They  were  written  with  the  humble 
hope  that  God  would  bless  them  to  others  as  he  has 
blessed  them  to  the  writer;  and  they  were  sent  forth 
with  many  prayers  that  this  hope  may  not  be  in  vain. 
Among  these  records  is  one  of  a  young  woman  who 
was  in  many  respects  a  parallel  to  the  '  Dair\'man's 
Daughter,'  whorn  Leigh  Richmond  has  made  famous. 


MATTE  AWAN.  225 

A  marriage  occasion  shows  how  this  union  must  re- 
mind every  thoughtful  person  of  the  nearer  and  more 
intimate  and  indissoluble  union  between  Christ  and  his 
church.  The  inquiry  of  a  neighbor  whether  he  could 
rightly  go  to  the  Universalist  Church  gave  me  the  op- 
portunity to  show  that  hearing  error  can  do  no  good, 
that  it  often  does  great  injury,  and  that  he  who  goes  to 
hear  false  teachers  sets  a  bad  example,  which  is  sure  to 
be  followed.  The  interview  with  an  anxious  sinner  in 
the  pastor's  study,  and  with  a  father  by  the  dying  bed 
of  his  idolized  daughter,  are  among  these  records,  and 
they  are  as  real  and  vivid  to-day  as  if  they  had  just 
occurred  in  ordinary  pastoral  experience.  One  that 
touches  me  even  now  is  the  story  of  a  daughter's  love : 

"  In  an  upper  room  of  a  humble  dwelling  I  found  a 
dying  girl.  She  was  about  eighteen  years  of  age,  and 
far  from  home.  In  early  life  she  had  left  her  mother's 
cot  '  in  the  Emerald  Isle,'  and  with  a  band  of  emigrants 
she  had  sought  America,  trusting  to  the  labor  of  her 
hands  for  her  daily  bread.  In  one  of  our  thousand 
mills  she  had  found  employment,  but  had  laid  up  noth- 
ing against  an  evil  day;  and  when  sickness  overtook 
her,  and  consumption  stretched  her  on  a  dying  bed,  she 
was  dependent  utterly  on  the  charity  of  others,  —  rela- 
tives she  had  none  on  this  side  of  the  great  water. 

"  Upon  sitting  down,  and  speaking  of  the  only  refuge 
of  the  soul  in  the  hour  of  dissolving  nature,  and  of  the 
the  happiness  of  those  who  trust  in  Jesus,  I  asked  her 
if  she  felt  willing  to  die.  'Yes,'  said  she,  'but  —  but 
—  I  should  like  to  see  my  mother;'  and  as  she  spoke, 
her  eyes  filled  with  tears,  she  drew  the  covering  over 
her  head  and  wept. 

"  This  was  my  first  visit.     She  asked  me  to  come  again. 

15 


226  SAMUEL   IREN^US   PRIME. 

They  told  me  as  I  came  away  that  she  would  probably 
live  a  month  or  two  ;  but  she  breathed  her  last  just 
after  she  told  me  she  would  like  to  sec  her  mother.  I 
hope  she  will.  Poor  girl! — poor  as  the  world  goes; 
for  charity  gave  her  burial.  Blessed  girl !  if  now  with 
Lazarus  in  Abraham's  bosom." 


XLIX. 

MATTE AWAN   AND   NEVVBURGH. 

Ride  to  West  Point.  —  Impromptu  Preaching.  —  After 
Many  Days.  —  Old  and  New  School. 

ALL  the  days  and  weeks  of  my  Highland  pastorate 
were  full  of  those  incidents  which  are  character- 
istic of  the  life  of  a  clergyman  who  is  interested  in  the 
welfare  of  many  households.  Many  of  them  have  been 
recorded  in  my  letters  and  books.  It  is  always  singu- 
lar to  note  the  personal  experiences  which  make  the 
strongest  impression  on  our  minds  and  memories.  In 
one  of  my  old  note-books  I  have  recorded  the  following 
incident  as  having  occurred  October  2,  1838:  — 

"  Presbytery  was  to  meet  at  Buttermilk  Falls,  two 
miles  south  of  West  Point.  In  the  morning  I  set  out  to 
attend  the  meeting.  Finding  that  the  fog  was  so  dense 
on  the  river  that  the  steamboat  would  not  probably  be 
down  in  time  to  enable  me  to  reach  the  Falls  by  three 
o'clock  P.  M.,  the  hour  of  meeting,  I  started  on  horse- 
back. The  road  was  rough  and  dangerous,  and  I  had 
never  ridden  so  far  on  horseback  at  one  time.  But  be- 
ing anxious  to  be  punctual,  I  made  the  effort,  and  after 
riding  about  six  miles,  while  I  was  descending  a  hill 
through  the  woods  some  distance  from  any  habitation, 
my  horse  stumbled  and  fell,  and  threw  me  over  his  head 
to  the  distance  of  ten  feet.  I  struck  upon  my  hands 
and  knees  and  did  not  sustain  the  slightest  external  or 


228  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS    PRIME. 

internal  injury.  I'or  this  kind  preservation  I  desire  to 
record  my  heartfelt  thanks  to  Him  who  has  given  His 
angels  charge  over  us  lest  at  any  time  we  should  dash 
our  foot  against  a  stone. 

"  Remounting  m}-  horse,  I  rode  on  a  mile  further  to 
Cold  Spring,  and  thence  was  taken  by  a  row-boat  to  the 
Falls,  three  miles  and  a  half,  and  reached  there  in  time 
for  the  meeting,  and  preached  at  the  ordination  of  Mr. 
P.  L.  de  St.  Croix. 

"  I  was  the  more  struck  with  this  providence  from  its 
being  the  second  within  a  short  time.  On  the  6th  of 
June,  while  returning  from  Presbytery,  I  was  thrown 
from  a  wagon  and  precipitated  some  distance  down  a 
bank,  but  was  not  injured  at  all.  The  catalogue  of  mer- 
cies of  a  similar  kind  might  be  greatly  extended  from 
ni)'  experience." 

Within  a  few  weeks  I  have  had  a  singular  reminis- 
cence of  Dr.  Johnston,  the  Newburgh  pastor  of  whom  I 
have  written.  Coming  over  from  Matteawan  one  even- 
ing, I  dropped  in  at  the  service  in  the  lecture-room  of 
his  church.  As  he  saw  me  come  in  he  came  down 
from  the  desk  and  said  to  me,  "  Vou  must  preach  for 
me  to  night."  "  Oh  no,  not  at  all,"  said  I ;  "I  beg 
to  be  excused."  After  a  good  deal  of  persuasion  he 
brought  me  to  the  desk  to  sit  with  him  and  take  some 
part  in  the  service.  I  thought  he  would  ask  me  to  make 
the  prayer  before  the  sermon,  but  instead  of  that  he 
went  on  and  made  it  himself,  and  prayed  for  the  "young 
minister  who  was  about  to  preach  the  Word."  I  thought 
that  cool,  under  the  circumstances.  However,  he  was 
old,  and  I  was  young,  and  after  he  had  completed  his 
prayer,  he  turned  to  me  and  said,  "  Now,  if  there  is  any 
preaching  done  to-night,  you  have  got  to  do  it." 


MATTEAWAN   AND   NEWBURGH.  229 

He  then  gave  out  a  hymn,  while  I  looked  for  a  text, 
and  the  more  I  looked  for  it  the  more  I  could  n't  find  it. 
There  was  not  a  passage  in  the  Bible,  it  seemed  to  me, 
that  I  had  ever  seen  before,  or  if  I  had,  that  I  could 
make  anything  out  of.  While  they  were  singing,  I 
looked  and  looked,  and  when  they  had  come  to  the  end 
of  the  singing,  I  had  not  found  a  line  in  the  Bible  from 
which  I  could  speak.  I  arose  and  recollected  this  ex- 
pression, "Who  is  on  the  Lord's  side?"  I  rehearsed 
from  memory  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was 
spoken,  but  I  did  not  say  where  the  words  were  uttered, 
because  I  did  not  know,  and  could  not  tell,  only  I  knew 
it  was  from  the  Old  Testament  somewhere.  I  went  on 
and  preached  as  well  as  I  could  from  those  words.  I 
never  heard  anything  from  it  until  I  went  the  other  day 
into  a  meeting  in  the  city  of  New  York  to  engage  in 
Christian  work.  It  was  at  the  opening  of  the  Church 
for  Strangers,  and  a  gentleman  who  for  years  has  been 
one  of  the  prominent,  leading,  useful  members  in  one 
of  the  largest  and  most  influential  congregations  in 
New  York  came  up  to  me  and  said,  "  I  never  saw  you 
that  I  did  not  want  to  put  my  arms  around  you ;  " 
and  he  did  put  his  arms  around  me.  Said  he:  "  Thirty 
years  ago  I  heard  you  preach  in  Dr.  Joknston's  lecture- 
room.  I  recollect  how  you  began  by  telling  the  people 
that  you  did  not  expect  to  preach,  and  that  you  could 
not  find  a  text  from  which  to  preach.  But,"  said  he, 
"you  preached  a  sermon  that  led  me  then  and  there  to 
devote  myself  to  the  service  of  God."  And  he  has 
been  a  useful  Christian,  giving  his  time  and  his  money 
and  his  labors  to  God  ever  since.  That  is  a  pleasant 
reminiscence  of  Father  Johnston,  because  he  pressed 
that  sermon  out  of  me  under  most  extraordinary  cir- 


230  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS    PRIME. 

cumstanccs,  and  I  rejoice  that  I  suffered  at  his  hands  in 
that  way  that  night. 

It  was  in  1838  that  the  Synod  of  New  York,  at  its 
meeting  in  Dr.  Johnston's  church,  Newburgh,  was  divi- 
ded into  two  bodies,  subsequently  known  as  Old  and 
New  School.  I  was  one  of  forty-nine  who  protested 
against  any  division  at  all,  and  after  the  division  had 
been  effected  by  calling  the  roll,  it  was  agreed  that 
those  known  as  the  Old  School  should  remain  in  this 
church,  and  go  on  with  their  business.  Another  of  the 
sister  churches  in  the  village  invited  those  who  adhered 
to  the  other  assembly,  commonly  called  the  New  School 
Assembly,  to  meet  in  their  house,  and  we  protestants 
against  any  division  were  left  out  in  the  cold.  However, 
we  obtained  the  privilege  of  meeting  in  a  building  close 
by  that  was  called  the  "  High  School."  So  that  the  Old 
School  had  one  place,  and  the  New  School  had  another 
place,  and  we  became  the  "  High  School,"  and  were  so 
known  at  that  time  in  Newburgh.  But  our  numbers 
were  soon  enlarged  by  the  addition  of  those  who  had 
voted  to  go  with  the  New  School.  Before  they  arrived 
we  had  elected  Rev.  Dr.  Skinner  as  moderator,  and  were 
proceeding  with  our  business.  My  father  had  so  much 
room  at  his  disposal  in  the  Powellton  House,  it  being 
vacation,  that  he  entertained  at  this  time  as  his  guests 
all  the  ministers  and  elders  of  his  Presbytery.  He  also 
was  among  the  number  of  those  who  protested  against 
the  division.  Subsequently  he  and  all  others  took  their 
places  with  the  body  holding  views  with  which  they  were 
in  sympathy. 


L. 

WRITING   FOR  THE    "OBSERVER." 

DURING  my  pastorate  at  Matteawan  I  began  to 
write  for  the  "  New  York  Observer."  My  first 
article,  signed  "  Irenaeus,"  was  printed  in  the  number 
dated  Aug.  i8,  1838,  and  is  entitled  "The  Eleventh 
Hour."     After  this  my  articles  appeared  every  week. 

In  the  "  Observer"  of  April  27,  1839,  there  is  printed 
"  The  Narrative  of  the  State  of  Religion  in  North 
River  Presbytery,"  signed  "  Samuel  J.  Prime,  Stated 
Clerk."  This  misprint  of  initial  letters  is  one  of  the 
common  errors. 

While  preaching  at  Matteawan  my  health  again  failed. 
I  was  so  seriously  affected  by  bronchitis  that  I  could  not 
recover  from  the  effect  of  one  Sunday's  work  before  an- 
other required  an  exertion  to  which  I  was  not  equal. 
Under  these  circumstances,  with  great  discouragement 
and  regret,  I  was  compelled  to  seek  some  other  employ- 
ment. I  applied  to  the  paper  to  which  I  was  contribut- 
ing every  week  and  my  application  was  successful.  In 
the  early  spring  I  removed  to  New  York,  and  began 
what  has  proved  my  life  work  on  the  "  New  York  Ob- 
server." From  1840  to  1849  I  performed  the  duties 
which  are  now  divided  among  several  persons.  Being 
elected    secretary   of   the    American    Bible    Society   in 


232  SAMUEL  IREN^EUS    PRIME. 

1849,  I  left  the  "Observer"  and  entered  its  service,  but 
my  health  failing  in  consequence  of  the  public  speaking 
it  involved,  at  the  end  of  a  year  I  became  associate 
editor  of  the  "  Presbyterian."  This  connection  also  lasted 
but  one  year,  and  in  1851  I  resumed  my  former  position 
in  the  "  New  York  Observer." 

On  April  2,  1885,  the  completion  of  my  forty-five 
years  of  editorial  work  was  celebrated  in  the  editorial 
rooms  of  the  "  New  York  Observer  "  by  a  social  gath- 
ering of  the  entire  working  force  of  the  establishment. 
On  that  occasion  I  made  the  following  remarks  in  regard 
to  the  history  of  this  portion  of  my  career :  — 

"  Mv  Friends,  —  I  thank  you  for  the  kindness  you 
show  mc  in  responding  to  my  invitation.  I  desired  on 
this  the  forty-fifth  anniversary  of  my  birthday  in  the 
'  New  York  Observer '  to  break  bread  with  my  fellow- 
laborers,  and  it  is  a  heartfelt  pleasure  to  sec  you  all, 
and  here. 

"The  opening  of  the  year  1840  found  me  the  pastor 
of  a  village  church,  for  the  second  time  broken  down  in 
health  and  despairing  of  being  able  to  continue  in  any 
labor  that  required  public  speaking.  I  said  to  my 
father,  '  I  must  give  up  preaching.'  Now  it  is  a  good 
thing  to  have  a  father  to  say  an  encouraging  word  when 
you  are  down,  and  this  is  what  he  said,  '  God  help  you, 
my  son,  you  are  fit  for  nothing  else.'  In  reply  to  his 
question,  'What  do  you  propose  to  do?'  I  said,  'I  in- 
tend to  be  the  editor  of  a  religious  newspaper;  I  will 
apply  for  a  place  on  the  "  New  York  Observer,"  and 
failing  to  get  it,  to  some  other  paper  and  another  until 
I  find  a  situation.'  My  first  application  was  successful, 
and  in  the  spring  of  the  year  1840  I  came  to  this  city. 


WRITING   F(JR   THE   "OBSERVER."  233 

"The  paper  was  not  so  large  then  as  now,  but  you 
know  it  is  harder  work  to  make  a  small  newspaper  than 
a  large  one.  My  predecessor  remained  with  me  three 
weeks  to  show  me  the  ropes.  He  then  left  the  deck, 
and  I  was  cook,  cabin  boy,  and  all  hands  in  one.  I 
wrote  the  editorials,  revised  the  manuscripts,  made  the 
selections,  got  up  the  news,  religious  and  secular,  read 
all  the  proofs,  and  had  no  help  in  any  department  ex- 
cept that  Mr.  David  M.  Stone,  now  the  distinguished 
editor  of  the  'Journal  of  Commerce,'  contributed  a 
financial  article  weekly. 

"  By  and  by  an  assistant  was  allowed  me,  but  the  labor 
was  very  great,  and  I  often  broke  down.  In  the  year 
1853  I  went  abroad  for  my  health,  being  taken  from 
my  bed  and  carried  to  the  dock,  where  I  lay  on  three 
barrel-heads  till  the  tug  came  and  took  me  out  to  the 
ship, 

"  My  brother  Edward  was  called  from  his  parish  to 
take  my  place,  and  he  remained  after  my  return,  and  has 
been  here  ever  since.  To  his  advent,  to  his  aid,  I  attrib- 
ute my  continued  life  far  more  than  to  any  medicines, 
voyages,  or  vacations.  Thirty-two  years  he  has  stood 
at  the  wheel  with  constancy,  fidelity,  and  devotion,  which 
can  never  be  expressed  in  words.  If  he  were  not  my 
brother  I  would  say  far  more.  I  could  not  say  less, 
brother  or  no  brother,  and  be  an  honest  man. 

"In  1858  I  became  one  of  the  proprietors,  and  since 
that  time  the  number  of  aids  in  the  editorial  and  the 
business  departments  has  been  largely  increased,  until 
now  it  requires  at  least  seven  persons  to  do  tho,  work 
which  I  did  alone  in  the  beginning.  And  then  I  did  not 
do  as  much  as  the  senior  editor  before  me.  He  man- 
aged the  business  office,  edited  the  paper  alone,  got  the 


234  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS    PRIME. 

papers  ready  for  the  mails,  took  them  in  a  hand-cart  and 
wheeled  tliem  to  the  post-office  himself.  I  met  a  gen- 
tleman a  short  time  ago  who  told  me  of  his  finding  the 
editor  with  his  hand-cart  wheel  stuck  in  a  hole,  and  he 
helped  him  out. 

"  One  of  the  pleasantest  of  my  labors  has  been  the 
preparation  of  the  weekly  letter  under  the  signature 
of  '  Irena^us.'  I  was  a  contributor  to  the  'Observer' 
under  this  signature  three  years  before  I  came  into  it, 
and  there  have  been  very  few  weeks  since  I  began  when 
that  name  has  not  appeared.  To  the  best  of  my  recol- 
lection it  has  never  been  omitted  once  on  account  of  ill- 
ness, though  the  letters  have  sometimes  been  written  in 
bed.  The  wonder,  however,  is  greater  that  the  readers 
have  not  become  sick  and  tired  of  them  and  begged  to 
be  relieved. 

"In  1840  the  'Observer'  was  published  in  the  Morse 
Building,  on  the  corner  of  Nassau  and  Beekman  streets. 
I  had  a  bed  in  the  fifth  story  and  Mr.  Morse  slept  on 
the  sixth  story,  and  Prof.  S.  F.  B.  Morse  had  a  room 
built  on  the  roof,  where  the  first  daguerreotypes  in  this 
country  were  made.  'He  introduced  the  art.  In  1858 
we  moved  across  the  way  into  the  Potter  Building,  from 
which  we  removed  in  1882  without  standing  upon  the 
order  of  our  going. 

"  During  these  years  my  relations  with  all  in  the  em- 
ployment of  the  paper  have  been  uniformly  pleasant. 
I  have  never  had  a  falling  out,  a  misunderstanding,  or 
a  cross  word  with  any  of  them.  The  foremen,  Mr- 
Brown  and  Mr.  Cunningham,  and  the  assistant  foreman, 
Alfred  Harris  (the  last  two  perished  in  the  fire),  were 
my  v/arm  personal  friends.  At  no  former  period  was 
the  paper  so  abl)'  manned,  nor  so  comfortably  and  con- 


WRITING    FOR   THE     '  OBSERVER.'  235 

veniently  provided  for.  We  are  all  proud  of  it;  each 
one  of  us  is  determined  to  do  his  work,  whatever  it  is, 
just  as  well  as  he  can,  cheerfully  as  unto  God,  whose 
we  are. 

"  We  old  men,  my  brother  and  I,  have  served  our  time 
and  are  fairly  entitled  to  our  discharge.  The  younger 
men  are  well  prepared  to  take  our  places.  Let  us  all  be 
faithful  to  the  end,  and  for  one  I  ask  no  better  epitaph, 
than  each  of  us  may  earn,  —  '  He  helped  TO  MAKE 
THE  "  New  York  Observer."  '  " 


part  Second* 

RESIDENCE   IN   NEWARK. 

1840  — 1850. 


part  ^econU. 

RESIDENCE   IN    NEWARK. 
1840  —  1850. 

DR.  PRIME'S  autobiographical  notes  ended  with 
his  removal  to  New  York  City  in  1840,  to  enter 
upon  his  duties  as  editor  of  the  "  New  York  Observer." 
After  a  few  months  he  made  a  home  in  Newark,  N.  J., 
about  ten  miles  from  the  city  of  New  York,  to  which  he 
came  daily  for  several  years.  His  miscellaneous  papers 
contain  many  personal  reminiscences  of  this  period.  In 
a  private  journal  he  wrote  as  follows:  — 

New  York,  Dec.  4,  1876. 
General  Joseph  R.  Hawley  addressed  the  Science  and 
Art  Association  this  evening;  the  audience  was  very 
large  and  intelligent,  and  the  address  very  entertaining 
and  instructive;  subject,  "The  International  Exhibition." 
To  make  the  arrangements  and  the  occasion  a  success 
cost  me  so  much  care,  labor,  and  fatigue,  that  I  resolved 
not  to  undertake  the  same  thing  again.  I  have  given  a 
vast  amount  of  time  and  toil  to  such  things  for  the  pub- 
lic good,  but  I  must  leave  such  works  now  to  younger 
men.  It  is  with  me  a  serious  question,  —  I  have  dis- 
cussed it  often  and  anxiously  with  myself,  —  whether  I 
have  not  given  up  too  much  time  to  religious,  literary, 
and  philanthropic  labors  outside  of  my  daily  duties  to 
the  "  New  York  Observer."    I  was  led  into  such  an  active 


240  SAMUEL   IREN/liUS    I'RIME. 

and  miscellaneous  life  when  I  first  came  into  the  paper 
in  1840  and  went  to  Newark,  N.  J.,  to  reside.  There,  in 
a  small  city,  I  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  Sabbath- 
school  work  and  was  superintendent  of  the  Third  Pres- 
byterian Church  school  nearly  nine  years.  There  I 
entered  ardently  into  the  public-school  work,  and  was 
elected  trustee,  being  put  on  both  party  tickets,  and  re- 
ceiving every  vote  in  the  ward  but  one  or  two.  I  was 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  City  Library  and  spent  a  vast 
amount  of  time  and  labor,  in  connection  with  William 
A.  Whitehead  and  others,  in  its  establishment.  Dr.  L. 
A.  Smith  used  to  salute  me  with  the  question,  "  Well, 
how  are  }'our  public  enterprises?" 

And  so  it  has  gone  on  ever  since ;  and  these  associa- 
tions have  increased  upon  me  in  numbers  and  extent 
until  they  furnish  employment  enough  for  my  whole 
time,  had  I  no  other  work  to  do.  And  yet  I  am  able 
to  affirm  with  a  good  conscience  that  I  have  never  neg- 
lected one  duty  or  diverted  one  hour  due  to  the  "  Ob- 
server," but  have  daily  given  to  it  all  the  time,  strength, 
and  thought  that  I  ought  to  have  given  to  it  if  I  had 
nothing  else  to  do.  The  only  doubt  is  as  to  the  matter 
of  health.  As  I  devote  the  first  part  of  every  day  to 
the  paper,  it  may  be  that  the  other  part  should  be  given 
to  exercise  and  relaxation  in  the  open  air.  This  I  have 
not  done,  and  perhaps,  now  that  old  age  is  approaching 
(I  am  sixty-four),  I  may  not  be  as  able  to  work  as  I 
would  have  been  had  I  done  one  thing  only  these  past 
thirty-six  years. 

As  a  member  of  the  congregation  of  the  Third  Pres- 
byterian Church  of  Newark,  Dr.  Prime  was  closely  as- 
sociated with  its  pastor,  the  Rev.  Horatio  N.  Rrinsmade, 


RESIDENCE   IN   NEWARK.  24 1 

D.D.  When  Dr.  Brinsmade  died  at  the  age  of  eighty, 
Dr.  Prime  thus  wrote  of  their  former  intimacy  :  — 

"What  a  tide  of  emotion  rushed  in  as  I  remember 
the  years  of  our  daily  companionship,  while  he  was 
pastor  and  I  led  the  Sabbath-school.  The  friendship 
was  warm,  tender,  and  holy;  as  free  from  dross  as  hu- 
man friendship  can  be ;  cemented  by  the  common  love 
we  had  for  Christ,  His  Church,  and  especially  the  lambs 
of  His  flock.  For  them  we  labored  hand  in  hand,  and 
great  was  our  joy  and  reward. 

"  Eighty  years  !  Fourscore  years  of  usefulness,  devo- 
tion, holy  living  and  active  Christian  benevolence.  For, 
like  his  Master,  he  went  about  doing  good.  His  power 
in  the  ministry  was  in  pastoral  work.  It  is  not  probable 
that  any  church  ever  had  a  pastor  more  nearly  perfect 
than  he.  He  was  a  good,  not  a  great  preacher,  except 
as  goodness  is  often  the  gveati:st  greatness.  Warm, 
earnest,  'drenched  with  Scripture,  from  a  heart  full  of 
tenderness  and  love,  so  that  every  hearer  knew  the 
preacher  '  yearned  to  do  him  good.' 

"  Himself  a  disciple  in  the  school  of  suffering,  taught 
by  the  Man  of  Sorrows,  he  was  a  son  of  consolation  to 
them  who  mourned.  In  every  household  of  his  charge 
he  ministered  in  affliction,  and  his  people,  especially 
the  children  of  his  people,  died  in  his  arms.  Just  here 
I  could  speak  of  scenes  that  he  and  I  will  talk  over  to- 
gether when  we  and  ours  are  sitting  on  the  banks  of  the 
river  that  flows  from  the  throne  of  the  Lamb !  Hal- 
lowed memories  !  Tears  thirty  years  ago  now  flowing 
again,  while  his  are  all  wiped  away  by  the  hand  of 
Infinite  Love  ! 

"  Children  would  stop  in  their  play  to  take  his  hand 
as  he  passed  along  the  street ;   and  there  is  nothing  in 

16 


242  SAMUEL   IREN.I^US   PRIME. 

the  description  of  the  village  pastor  of  Goldsmith  more 
beautiful  than  was  daily  revealed  in  the  walk  and  con- 
versation of  this  good  shepherd.  He  was  able  to  gi\e 
money  to  those  who  had  need  of  it,  for  his  own  habits 
were  exceedingly  simple,  almost  severe,  and  his  income 
ample.  It  was  freely  spent  upon  the  poor  in  his  own 
fiock,  and  in  the  ends  of  the  world.  The  father  of  many 
orphans,  he  was  as  the  Lord  is  to  them  whom  father  and 
mother  have  left  behind  when  going  home  to  heaven. 

"  So  have  I  seen  a  peaceful  meadow-stream  winding  its 
way  among  green  fields,  and  trees  planted  by  the  water- 
course, verdure  and  flower  and  fruit  revealing  its  life- 
giving  power.  It  made  no  noise.  It  was  often  hid  from 
sight  by  the  wealth  of  overhanging  branches,  but  it  was 
a  river  of  water  of  life  to  the  valley  it  blessed.  Like 
unto  such  a  stream  is  the  life  of  my  departed  friend. 
This  day  the  garden  of  the  Lord  is  glad  for  him ;  his 
whole  course  of  eighty  years  may  be  traced  by  the  fruit 
and  flower  and  joy  which  rose  into  being  along  his 
path." 

Dr.  Prime  read  before  the  Historical  Society  of  the 
State  of  New  Jersey,  May  21,  1885,  a  "  sketch  "  of  the 
Hfe  and  character  of  the  Hon.  William  A.  Whitehead, 
who  died  at  his  home  in  Perth  Amboy,  Aug.  18,  1884. 
Of  his  early  association  with  this  accomplished  Chris- 
tian gentleman  he  says  in  this  address  :  — 

"The  Newark  Library  Association,  its  building,  and  its  books 
will  remain  as  one  of  the  most  conspicuous  memorials  of  the 
energy  and  intelligent  public  spirit  of  Mr.  Whitehead.  In  the 
year  1846  several  gentlemen  fond  of  books  and  interested  in 
the  diffusion  of  useful  knowledge  were  in  the  habit  of  going 
to  New  York  from  Newark  daily  in  the  railroad  train.  One  of 
them  remarked  to  another.  '  I  have  some  five  or  six  hundred 


RESIDENCE   IN   NEWARK.  243 

books,  and  I  purpose  to  give  them  for  a  circulating  library  in 
Newark.'  They  agreed  to  make  a  similar  contribution.  We 
submitted  the  idea  to  Mr.  Whitehead,  who  enlarged  the  scope 
of  the  suggestion  ;  and  when  we  brought  in  other  counsellors 
and  agreed  upon  a  joint  club  association,  Mr.  Whitehead  gave 
himself  to  the  work  and  prosecuted  it  to  complete  success.  We 
called  personally  on  scores  of  business  men  to  secure  their  sub- 
scriptions. Mr.  Whitehead  has  written  :  '  It  was  a  labor  requir- 
ing great  devotion  admitting  of  no  relaxation.  It  was  with 
pertinacity  of  purpose  that  in  all  weathers,  regardless  of  rebuffs, 
we  would  seek  out  those  who  we  thought  ought  to  favor  the 
enterprise,  and  argue  with  them  to  remove  their  objections  to 
contribute  to  the  fund.'  " 

At  the  opening  of  the  Hall  of  the  Newark  Library 
Association,  Feb.  21,  1848,  Dr.  Prime,  then  the  vice- 
president,  delivered  the  address,  which  was  published 
by  order  of  the  directors. 

Among  the  leading  citizens  of  Newark  with  whom 
Dr.  Prime  was  associated  in  literary  and  benevolent 
works  was  the  Hon.  William  B.  Kinney,  then  editor  of 
the  Newark  "  Daily  Advertiser."  At  the  time  of  Mr. 
Kinney's  death  in  1880  Dr.  Prime  wrote  the  following 
recollections  of  his  "friend  of  forty  years:"  — 

"  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  1841  I  became  first  acquainted 
with  Mr.  Kinney.  He  was  then  forty  years  old  ;  I  was  less  than 
thirty.  Our  pursuits  and  tastes  were  similar.  We  were  soon 
intimate  friends,  have  been  ever  since,  and  I  trust  will  be 
forever. 

"  He  attracted  my  attention  and  fascinated  me  with  his  won- 
drous facility  in  conversation,  the  wide  range  of  his  reading  and 
observation,  his  sympathy  with  everything  that  had  life,  and  his 
genuine  love  for  the  beautiful  and  true.  I  soon  learned  from 
him  and  others  that  he  was  descended,  on  both  sides  of  his 


244  SAMUEL   IREN.EUS   PRIME. 

family,  in  a  line  distinguished  fur  its  talents,  position,  and  in- 
fluence ;  that  he  at  first  was  designed  for  a  military  career,  but 
his  love  of  letters  led  to  his  return  from  West  Point ;  that  he 
studied  under  the  instruction  of  the  late  Dr.  John  Ford,  having 
the  late  Rev.  Drs.  Hay  and  Cox  as  his  fellow-students ;  that  in 
1825  he  was  in  the  city  of  New  York,  where  his  genius,  versatile 
and  omnivorous,  expended  itself  in  the  study  of  law  and  medi- 
cine ;  that  he  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Mercantile  Library, 
now  one  of  the  great  ornaments  and  benefactions  of  the  city,  as 
he  was  afterwards  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Newark  Library. 
While  in  New  York  he  made  a  public  profession  of  religion,  and 
began  the  study  of  theology,  with  a  view  to  the  ministry. 

"  Having  ancestral  property  and  associations  in  Newark, 
N.  J.,  he  went  to  that  city,  and  became  identified  with  its  inter- 
ests, grew  with  its  growth,  was  the  organ  of  its  people,  the  only 
journalist  in  it  for  many  years,  and  made  a  journal  that  was  an 
honor  to  the  town,  and  compelled  attention  not  in  the  State  of 
New  Jersey  only,  but  over  the  country.  This  soon  made  him 
the  confidential  associate  of  the  rising  and  leading  men  of  the 
day.  Statesmen  were  his  friends,  such  as  Theodore  Freling- 
huysen,  Samuel  L.  Southard,  Chief-Justice  Hornblower,  R.  F. 
Stockton,  Chief-Justice  Green,  and  Winfield  Scott. 

"Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  was  visiting  him  when  for  the  first 
time  I  met  that  distinguished  philosopher.  Mr.  Kinney's  chil- 
dren were  playing  on  the  floor,  and  he  remarked  to  Mr.  Emer- 
son, 'They  are  just  at  the  interesting  age;'  to  which  Mr. 
Emerson  responded,  'And  at  what  age  are  children  not 
interesting  ? '  " 

"  When  General  Taylor  was  elected  to  the  Presidency  of  the 
United  Slates,  Mr.  Kinney  was  appointed  the  American  Minis- 
ter resident  at  the  court  of  Sardinia,  the  government  which  was 
afterwards  extended  over  the  whole  of  Italy.  His  fellow-citizens 
gave  him  a  public  dinner  on  the  eve  of  his  departure,  and  in 
some  remarks  of  mine  on  that  occasion  I  commended  to  his 
special  interest  the  Waldenses  in  the  valleys  of  Piedmont,  hard 


RESIDENCE   IN   NEWARK.  245 

by  the  city  of  Turin,  where  he  was  to  reside  near  the  court  of 
Victor  Emanuel.  Mr.  Kinney  was  happy  in  remembering  the 
charge.  He  found  General  Beckwith  there,  and  with  that  dis- 
tinguished friend  of  the  Vaudois,  Mr.  Kinney  served  that  inter- 
esting people.  He  was  accustomed  to  say  pleasantly  that  he 
was  an  '  ordained  minister  to  the  Waldenses.' 

"In  1853,  while  he  was  residing  in  Florence,  I  was  his  guest 
a  month.  A  young  gentleman  from  Newark,  son  of  the  late 
William  Rankin,  Esq.,  was  my  travelling  companion,  and  was 
attacked  with  severe  illness  at  the  hotel  where  he  was  lodged. 
His  brain  was  affected  and  physicians  told  us  he  would  not  re- 
cover. Night  after  night  Mr.  Kinney  and  I  took  turns  in 
watching ;  every  night,  in  the  silence  and  darkness  of  the  town, 
Mr.  Kinney  walked  half  a  mile  to  the  river  Arno,  crossed  it, 
came  to  the  hotel,  and  took  my  place  by  the  sick  boy's  side, 
and  I  returned  in  the  same  way  to  his  house  ;  at  last  it  was  evi- 
dent he  could  live  but  a  few  hours  at  most,  and  we  kept  our 
vigil  together.  We  sat  on  either  side,  on  the  bed,  each  of  us 
holding  a  hand  of  the  dying;  we  talked  to  him  of  friends  at 
home,  of  his  young  companions  there ;  of  the  Saviour  and  of 
heaven.  He  did  not  know  of  what  we  spoke.  Then,  as  the 
slow,  sad  hours  wore  on,  we  talked  to  one  another  of  the  mys- 
tery of  dying,  of  death  and  the  great  beyond,  and  in  the  pres- 
ence of  that  awful  angel  whose  work  no  wit  nor  arm  can  hinder, 
we  sat  until  he  had  finished  what  he  came  to  do.  All  the 
tenderness  of  Mr.  Kinney's  nature  appeared  in  his  kindness  to 
this  youth  during  his  sickness,  and  in  the  care  with  which  he 
ministered  to  his  remains  at  his  burial  and  after  they  were  laid 
in  the  beautiful  cemetery  of  Florence,  where  Mrs.  Browning,  and 
our  great  artist  Powers,  and  many  other  sons  and  daughters  of 
genius,  found  their  last  bed  after  life's  struggles  were  over. 

"  During  this  visit  I  was  in  Mr.  Kinney's  parlor  one  evening, 
with  Mrs.  Browning  and  Mrs.  Kinney,  congenial  poets  and 
friends,  with  Powers  and  Gould  and  other  artists,  —  a  brilliant 
company.     A  question  in  religion  came  up  in  the  midst  of  our 


246  SAMUEL    IREN.EUS    PRIME. 

conversation,  when  one  of  the  party  avowed  himself  an  unbe- 
liever, and  with  an  air  of  confident  triumph  said,  '  I  will  not  be- 
lieve anything  that  I  cannot  understand.'  Mr.  Kinney  broke 
the  silence  that  ensued  by  asking,  *  Will  you  tell  us,  sir,  what 
you  do  understand?'  And  tlien  followed  one  of  his  tornadoes 
of  conversational  eloquence  or  parlor  discourse,  in  which  he  de- 
monstrated the  utter  human  inability  to  understand  the  simplest 
phenomena,  which  nevertheless  we  intelligently  believe. 

"On  his  return  to  his  native  land,  Mr.  Kinney  did  not  resume 
his  life-labor  in  connection  with  the  '  Newark  Daily  Advertiser,' 
but  devoted  his  time  and  thought  to  the  preparation  and  ar- 
rangement of  the  material  he  had  for  many  years  been  accumu- 
lating for  a  history  of  Tuscany  and  the  Medici  family.  By  and 
by  his  health  failed  him,  and  a  shadow  of  great  darkness  ob- 
scured the  brightness  of  his  splendid  intellectual  powers.  He 
had  been  the  most  gifted  person  in  the  art  of  conversation  with 
whom  it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  meet  in  any  profession  or 
in  any  land. 

"  Only  within  a  few  months  of  the  end  of  his  life  on  earth  did 
it  please  our  Heavenly  Father  to  command  the  light  to  shine 
out  of  darkness,  and  to  give  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ  to  the  heart  and  mind 
of  this  remarkable  man.  He  was  eighty  years  old.  His  physi- 
cal health,  long  enfeebled  by  age  and  disease,  seemed  to  be 
reinvigorated.  Among  the  mountains  where  he  felt  the  strength 
of  the  hills,  the  mind  that  liad  often  been  in  wandering  mazes 
lost  resumed  its  normal  course,  and  he  became  as  a  child  in 
his  acceptance  of  the  love  of  God  in  the  person  of  His  Son 
Jesus  Christ.  To  those  near  him,  he  expressed  his  sweet  con- 
fidence in  that  Saviour  who  had  been  the  guide  of  his  youth, 
from  whom  he  had  erred  and  strayed,  and  to  whose  feet  he 
now  returned  in  peace." 

The  Rev.  Nicholas  Murray,  D.U.,  pastor  of  the  First 
Presbyterian  Church,  KJizabethtown,  N.  J.,  was  one  of 


RESIDENCE   IN   NEWARK.  247 

the  clergy  of  the  vicinity  with  whom  Dr.  Prime  formed 
a  hfe-long  friendship.  Born  an  Irishman  and  a  Roman 
CathoHc,  Dr.  Murray  was  famihar  from  earhest  child- 
hood, with  the  spirit  and  practice  of  the  system  which 
he  had  renounced  under  evangehcal  influences.  After 
he  had  been  settled  in.Elizabethtown  fourteen  years,  he 
published  the  first  series  of  those  controversial  letters 
which  made  his  pseudonyme  "  Kirwan  "  famous  through- 
out the  religious  reading  world.  His  "  Memoirs  "  were 
prepared  as  a  labor  of  love  by  Dr.  Prime  and  published 
in  1862.  In  the  chapter  on  "  Dr.  Murray  as  an  author," 
he  says :  — 

"  In  the  maturity  of  his  powers,  and  firmly  established  in  his 
charge,  he  looked  back  with  painful  solicitude  upon  the  church 
of  his  fathers,  and  his  soul  yearned,  as  did  the  soul  of  the  apostle, 
for  his  brethren,  his  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesh  who  were 
yet  under  the  bondage  of  Rome.  With  an  earnestness  of  pur- 
pose and  intensity  of  zeal  that  few  can  understand  and  appre- 
ciate, he  resolved  to  make  one  effort  to  open  the  eyes  of  his 
countrymen  and  his  former  brethren  to  the  danger  of  the  errors 
by  which  they  were  led  captive,  and  with  God's  good  help,  to 
deliver  them.  We  have  the  means  of  knowing  that  he  set  him- 
self at  this  work  with  prayerful  deliberation,  and  pursued  it 
through  months  and  years  of  most  laborious  study.  Before 
putting  pen  to  paper,  he  unfolded  to  me  the  plan  and  purpose 
of  his  work,  and  the  feelings  with  which  he  was  impelled  to  its 
execution.  I  urged  him  to  go  forward,  aided  him  in  finding 
the  books  that  he  needed  to  substantiate  his  positions,  and 
begged  him  not  to  allow  anything  to  divert  him  from  the  holy 
purpose  he  had  formed." 

It  was  soon  determined  that  his  work  should  take  the 
form  of  a  series  of  articles  in  the  "  New  York  Observer," 


248  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

and  for  the  purpose  of  more  immediately  securing  at- 
tention, and  giving  them  the  additional  zest  of  personal 
correspondence,  that  they  should  be  addressed  as  letters 
to  the  Rt.  Rev.  John  Hughes,  D.D.,  Bishop  of  New 
York. 

The  first  scries  consisted  of  twelve  letters,  in  the 
early  part  of  1847.  Their  immediate  publication  in 
book  form  followed,  and  tens  of  thousands  were  sold 
with  great  rapidity.  They  were  translated  into  German. 
They  were  republished  abroad.  "  It  is  certainly  safe 
and  just  to  say  that  no  writings  on  the  Roman  Catholic 
question  have  excited  so  much  attention  since  the  Ref- 
ormation, or  have  been  so  widely  read  by  the  masses 
of  the  people."  Other  series  followed  which,  though 
not  so  widely  read  by  the  Protestant  community  were 
even  abler  and  more  effective  than  the  first.  It  was 
characteristic  of  Dr.  Prime  that  in  the  first  decade  of 
his  life  as  an  editor,  he  should  introduce  a  champion  of 
the  Protestant  faith  whose  words  aroused  the  attention 
of  great  numbers  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic.  Dr. 
Murray  died  at  Elizabcthtown,  N.  J.,  in  the  midst  of  his 
usefulness,  February  4,  1861,  in  the  fift}'-ninth  \'ear  of 
his  age. 

Although  Dr.  Prime  was  laboriously  occupied  with 
editorial  duties  during  the  ordinary  working  hours  of 
every  day,  and  ardently  interested  in  the  religious,  edu- 
cational, and  benevolent  enterprises  of  the  city  of  New- 
ark, his  early  morning  and  evening  hours  were  spent  in 
literary  work  which  resulted  in  several  useful  volumes, 
published  by  the  American  Sunday-school  Union  and 
Robert  Carter  and  Brother.  His  health  was  delicate, 
but  his  buoyant  spirit  sustained  him  throughout  months 
of  incessant  and  absorbing  occupation.     In  this  he  was 


RESIDENCE   IN   NEWARK.  249 

no  example  for  olhers,  because  his  facility  for  both  liter- 
ary and  executive  work  was  so  remarkable  that  his  ex- 
ertion, though  continuous,  was  entirely  free  from  that 
friction  and  exhaustion  common  to  many  of  the  most 
successful.  Bereavement  first  visited  his  household  in 
the  death  of  the  youngest  of  his  four  children,  Edward 
Irenaeus,  in  October,  1849.  In  the  following  year  Dr. 
Prime  removed  to  Brooklyn,  Long  Island. 


part  CI)iiD» 

RESIDENCE    IN    BROOKLYN. 

1850  —  1858. 


Part  C{)irD* 

RESIDENCE   IN   BROOKLYN. 

1850-1858. 

AMONG  other  inducements  to  settle  in  Brooklyn  at 
the  time  Dr.  Prime  left  Newark  in  1850,  was  an 
invitation  to  supply  the  pulpit  of  the  Presbyterian  Church, 
of  which  the  Rev.  Melancthon  W.  Jacobus,  D.  D.,  was 
pastor,  and  who  at  this  time  was  travelling  abroad. 
Though  Dr.  Prime  had  retired  from  the  pastorate  be- 
cause his  throat  was  not  equal  to  the  continuous  labor 
of  the  pulpit,  he  had  been  able  during  the  last  ten  years 
to  speak  in  public  at  intervals,  and  was  now  well  known 
as  an  impressive  occasional  preacher.  His  sermons 
were  written  and  read,  always  interesting  and  forcible, 
often  pathetic  and  persuasive,  never  lacking  in  the  ear- 
nestness and  directness  which  were  characteristic  of 
his  manhood.  His  natural  buoyancy  and  ready  wit 
never  betrayed  him  into  anything  incongruous  or  un- 
worthy of  the  pulpit.  His  conversation  and  extempore 
efforts  on  ordinary  occasions  shone  with  the  brightness 
of  his  humor.  Many  who  were  never  in  his  presence 
but  for  a  few  moments  remember  them  as  full  of  life  and 
light.  For  many  years  it  was  his  pleasure  to  lecture 
occasionally  for  the  benefit  of  worthy  objects.  In  one 
of  those  lectures,  which  was  literally  packed  with  enter- 
taining anecdotes  and  reminiscences,  he  remarked  thus 
on  wit  in  the  pulpit :  — 


254  SAMUEL    IRENMiUS    PRIME. 

"  Because  very  successful  preachers  sometimes  say  things  that 
make  people  laugh  in  the  midst  of  the  sermon,  it  is  common  for 
unthinking  people  to  reason  that  it  is  wise  and  well  to  mix  up 
the  gospel  with  fun.     But  these  witticisms  are  out  of  place,  are 

flies  in  the  ointment. 

'  'Tis  pitiful 
To  court  a  grin  when  you  should  woo  a  soul.' 

"  Let  us  be  serious  in  a  serious  cause,  and  be  funny  in  the 
time  and  place  for  fun.  Still  we  must  not  be  too  hard  on  all 
ministers  who  make  fun  in  the  pulpit.  There  's  no  knowing  what 
one  might  do  if  one  could.  The  excellent  Sherlock  remon- 
strated with  the  excellent  South  for  his  irreverence,  saying  that 
the  pulpit  was  no  place  for  wit  and  humor.  South  replied : 
'  O  dear  Dr.  Sherlock,  had  it  pleased  the  Lord  to  make  you  a 
wit,  what  would  you  have  done  ? '  Men  who  have  no  tempta- 
tions must  be  very  gentle  in  their  treatment  of  their  brethren 
who  are  so  unfortunate  as  to  be  witty.  'Hiere  is  danger  on  the 
other  side  in  making  too  much  effort  to  conceal  the  natural 
disposition  and  to  warp  the  natural  play  of  the  intellect. 

"  The  Rev.  Thomas  Fairfield  lived  in  New  Jersey  in  those 
good  old  times  when  the  Tennents  were  the  godly  pastors 
of  New  Brunswick  and  Freehold.  He  was  an  excellent  man, 
with  a  loving,  cheerful  heart,  overflowing  with  good-will,  with  a 
smile  and  kindly  word  for  every  man  he  met,  and  in  the  pulpit 
his  good-humor  shone  in  his  face  and  in  all  his  speech.  His 
wit,  always  kindly,  was  as  quick  as  the  light  and  just  as  cheery. 
He  had  long  heard  of  the  holy  Mr.  Tennent  at  Freehold,  and 
of  the  wonderful  power  of  that  devout  and  godly  man.  He 
went  down  and  spent  a  few  days  with  him,  heard  him  preach 
and  pray,  was  deeply  impressed,  and  went  home  to  be  another 
man, — to  be  like  Mr.  Tennent !  The  Sabbath  came,  and  with 
a  solemn  countenance  he  met  his  people  at  the  door  of  the 
church  ;  he  preached  and  prayed  as  if  the  funeral  of  all  his 
friends  was  in  progress,  and  came  down  from  the  pulpit  to  take 
his  elders'  hands  as  though  the  sorrows  and  sins  of  his  pcojile 


RESIDENCE   IN   BROOKLYN.  355 

were  a  burden  on  his  soul.  Deacon  Nutman  went  at  him  : 
'Are  you  well,  Mr.  Fairfield?'  'Very  well,  through  mercy,' 
said  the  pastor.  'And  all  the  family?'  'All  well,  thank  the 
Lord,'  with  a  sigh.  The  deacon  pursued  the  inquiry,  and  find- 
ing that  nothing  had  occurred  during  the  week  to  depress  the 
spirits  of  the  worthy  minister,  he  broke  out  upon  him  in  these 
blunt  words :  '  Well,  I  tell  you  what  it  is,  Mr.  Fairfield,  if 
nothing 's  happened  to  make  you  feel  bad,  then  the  devil 's  in 
you,  —  that 's  all.'  Mr,  Fairfield  felt  it  instantly,  and,  coming 
to  himself,  gave  his  hand  to  his  good  friend,  saying  :  '  You  are 
right,  Deacon  Nutman  ;  the  devil  was  in  me,  but  you  have  cast 
him  out.  I  was  trying  to  be  like  Mr.  Tennent,  but  I  will  be 
myself  after  this,  and  nobody  else.' 

"This  was  a  sudden  cure,  and  it  was  thorough.  Mr.  Fair- 
field went  on  with  his  work,  and  did  it  well,  a  cheerful,  happy, 
useful  pastor,  rejoicing  with  them  that  did  rejoice  and  weeping 
with  those  in  tears." 

Dr.  Prime's  health,  which  from  his  earhest  youth  had 
been  delicate  and  precarious,  was  so  seriously  impaired 
in  1853  that  he  arranged  for  a  season  of  rest  and  travel 
in  Europe  and  the  East.  He  made  his  first  ocean  transit 
by  the  sailing-ship  "  Devonshire"  (April  7,  1853),  which, 
after  a  pleasant  voyage  of  seventeen  days,  reached  Ports- 
mouth April  24,  1853.  First-class  steamers  have  often 
made  longer  passages  than  this.  There  was  much  be- 
sides its  brevity  and  weather  to  make  the  voyage  mem- 
orable to  those  who  formed  the  company  of  about  thirty 
cabin  passengers,  several  of  whom  were  cultivated  ladies, 
and  five  of  whom  were  clergymen.  More  than  thirty 
years  after,  the  Rev.  John  G.  Hall,  D.  D.,  of  Cleveland, 
Ohio,  gave  in  the  "New  York  Observer"  (Aug.  20, 
1885)  the  following  recollections  of  "  Irenseus  on 
shipboard  : "  — 


256  SAMUEL   IREN/F-US    PRIME. 

"  It  was  thirty-two  years  ago  the  7th  of  April  last  that  I  first 
saw  the  Rev.  Dr.  S.  Irenaeus  Prime.  He  stood  on  the  pier  at 
Peck  Slip  with  a  group  of  others,  who  were  waiting  for  the  tug  to 
transfer  them  to  the  deck  of  the  good  ship  '  Devonshire/  anchored 
in  the  stream,  and  bound  for  London.  As  I  approached,  the 
late  Rev.  Dr.  Horatio  N.  Brinsmade,  of  Newark,  who  was  talking 
with  him,  turned  and  said  to  me,  in  his  customary  pleasant,' naive 
manner  :  '  Why,  you  here  !  Where  are  you  going  ? '  And  then 
he  introduced  me  to  'his  friend  Mr.  Prime,  of  the  "Observer."' 
And  the  endorsement  of  the  good  man  lasted  with  us  both. 

"  Dr.  Prime  was  clad  in  a  dark-colored  Ulster  overcoat  reach- 
ing to  his  feet,  and  looked  like  an  invalid,  as  indeed  he  was.  I 
was  much  like  him  in  the  latter  respect,  and  on  this  account  was 
much  in  his  company  on  board  the  ship,  especially  in  the  sec- 
ond cabin,  midships,  where  a  stove  had  been  kept  up  for  the 
delicate  ones,  and  where  Mr.  Richard  C  Morse,  who  was  also 
one  of  our  passengers,  frequently  entertained  us  by  his  magnifi- 
cent reading,  which  gave  me  my  first  and  only  acquaintance 
with  'Bleak  House.' 

"  The  '  Devonshire  '  was  a  noble  ship  of  the  Griswold  Line 
of  London  Packets,  and  manned  by  five  officers  besides  the 
captain,  twenty-five  seamen,  five  stewards,  and  two  cooks.  Cap- 
tain Hovey,  the  commander,  was  the  son  of  Rev.  Mr.  Hovey, 
the  life-long  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  at  Essex 
(Petipang  Society),  —  a  parish  formerly  of  Saybrook,  Conn., 
—  and  though  bred  to  the  sea,  was  bred  also  a  gentleman. 
Long  after  we  sailed  with  him  he  was  lost  aboard  a  wrecked 
steamer  on  the  coast  of  Georgia  during  a  storm  of  tremendous 
violence. 

"  Our  first  Sabbath  out  was  so  rough  and  blustering  that  public 
religious  services  were  impracticable,  but  the  next  Sabbath  prov- 
ing more  favorable,  we  were  all  assembled  on  deck  for  the 
interesting  exercises.  Dr.  Prime  and  Rev.  Jonathan  Crane,  of 
Attleboro',  Mass.,  were  our  leaders,  although  we  all  took  part  in 
the  hearing,  singing,  praying,  and  joy  of  the  occasion.     One 


RESIDENCE   IN   BROOKLYN.  257 

young  man  I  noticed  in  particular,  —  the  carpenter  of  the  ship, 
—  who  showed  us  his  bright,  intelligent,  interested  face,  as 
he  hung  over  us  from  the  shrouds,  where  he  had  .perched 
himself.  Alas !  before  the  dawn  of  the  next  Sabbath  he  was 
drowned  in  the  depths  of  the  sea,  the  weeds  of  which  had 
begun  to  gather  about  his  head.  He  was  a  German,  returning 
to  his  fatherland,  where  his  expectant  parents  were  longingly 
awaiting  him.  And  none  on  ship  mourned  him  more  sincerely 
than  Dr.  Prime  ;  as  he  himself  said  in  a  letter  soon  after,  '  My 
heart  had  gone  out  to  him,  and  in  return  for  some  acts  of  kind- 
ness he  had  done  to  me  I  was  thinking  what  present  I  should 
make  him  before  going  ashore,  when,  at  the  instant,  the  shout 
was  made,  and  this  noble  fellow,  the  pride  of  the  men,  was 
struggling  in  the  pitiless  waters  !  ' 

"  The  sailors  have  a  superstitious  saying  among  them,  that  '  a 
parson  aboard  makes  a  bad  voyage.'  But  although  there  were 
five  of  us  of  that  description,  yet  our  voyage  was  remarkable  for 
its  general  prosperity,  pleasantness  (aside  from  the  death  just 
alluded  to)>  and  its  brevity.  The  ship  did  not  alter  her  course 
from  Sandy  Hook  to  the  British  Channel.  Of  the  five  clergy- 
men referred  to,  the  first  to  leave  us  for  the  eternal  world  was 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Righter,  of  Parsippany,  New  Jersey,  who  became 
the  very  efficient,  enthusiastic,  and  valued  agent  of  the  American 
Bible  Society  among  the  soldiers  of  the  Crimean  war,  and  who 
died  there  in  that  distant  field.  The  second  was  the  Rev. 
Jonathan  Crane,  who  died  in  his  pulpit  a  few  years  since,  at 
Middletown,  N.  Y.  And  now  the  third  is  our  much  lamented 
Dr.  Prime.  The  fourth.  Rev.  George  E.  Hill,  son  of  the  very 
venerable  Henry  Hill,  Esq.,  so  long  Treasurer  of  the  American 
Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions,  is  still  in  the 
ministry.  A  number  of  other  passengers,  about  thirty  in  all, 
agreeable  and  interesting  in  their  companionship,  among  whom 
may  be  mentioned  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  W.  Harper,  of  New 
York,  then  on  their  wedding  trip,  Mr.  J.  J.  Rankin,  of  Newark, 
N.  J.,  then  a  recent  graduate  of  Princeton,  who  died  the  same 

17 


258  SAMUEL   IREN.^US   PRIME. 

year  at  Florence,  and  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Richard  Morse,  — filled 
the  main  cabin  with  a  circle  who  remembered  one  another  with 
pleasure  for  a  long  time  afterward. 

"  Of  those  evening  gatherings,  before  the  state-rooms  were 
resorted  to,  Dr.  Prime  was  the  life  and  soul,  introducing  topics 
of  conversation,  and  suggesting  various  simple  entertainments 
for  the  passing  hours.  And  as  mesmerism  was  then  the  rage  of 
the  day,  I  remember  how  he  skilfully  entertained  us  all,  and  be- 
wildered some  of  us,  myself  among  the  latter  number,  by  his 
adroit  simulations  of  those  stealthy  tricks.  He  afterwards  kindly 
opened  to  nie  the  arcana  of  the  operation. 

"  The  last  evening  we  were  to  be  together  a  special  service  was 
arranged,  at  which  were  toasts  and  speeches  appropriate  to  the 
occasion,  of  which  Dr.  Prime  seemed  to  be  the  principal  getter- 
up  and  manager,  he  himself  responding  by  request  to  two  of  the 
sentiments  proposed.  The  innocent  witticism  of  one  of  them, 
'  Our  men  of  letters ;  may  they  wj-ite  her  if  they  do  not  come 
back,'  responded  to  by  Rev.  Mr.  Righter,  seems  now  to  have 
been  unintentionally  prophetic  of  his  career,  since  he  never  did 
come  back,  but  died  at  Diarbekir.  Another  of  them  also  :  'The 
future  of  our  travels ;  "  the  world  is  all  before  us  where  to 
choose,  and  Providence  our  guide,"  '  responded  to  by  Mr.  J.  J. 
Rankin,  seems  now  singularly  foreshadowing  of  that  afflictive 
Providence  which  had  arranged  that  he  should  die  at  Florence, 
far  away  from  parents  and  native  land.  On  the  other  hand, 
how  kind  the  Providence  that  caused  Dr.  Prime,  an  intimate 
friend  of  the  Rankin  family,  to  be  present  at  the  dying  bed 
of  this  young  man  in  that  distant  city,  to  minister  to  him  in  his 
last  moments  and  to  see  to  his  burial.  Such  striking  contacts  of 
one  life  with  another  here  in  this  world  may,  peradventure,  have 
still  more  striking  counterparts  in  the  world  that  is  hereafter. 
'  Seest  thou  these  things  ?  Thou  shall  see  greater  things  than 
these.' 

"  I^anding  at  Portsmouth  Sabbath  morning,  April  24,  after 
seventeen   days'    intercourse,    the  '  five  American  clergymen  ' 


RESIDENCE   IN   BROOKLYN.  259 

attended  public  worship  together,  and  sent  to  the  pulpit  a  note 
of  public  thanks,  penned  by  Dr.  Prime,  'for  deliverance  from 
the  dangers  of  the  deep.'  Many  pleasant  interviews  have  I 
had  since  our  ocean  voyage  of  1853  with  him  to  whom  these 
reminiscences  mainly  refer;  but  it  is  with  a  peculiar  pleasure 
that  I  recall  those  first  days  and  scenes  of  our  acquaintance,  when 
the  scant  area  of  the  '  Devonshire  '  was  all  the  accessible  world 
to  us,  whose  inmates  were  always  near  at  hand  for  a  walk,  a  talk, 
a  song,  or  a  prayer." 

Dr.  Prime's  subsequent  journey  was  pleasant  and 
prosperous,  excepting  one  adventure  and  disappoint- 
ment in  the  Holy  Land.  In  one  of  his  published  letters 
he  thus  tells  the  story  :  — 

"  While  at  Constantinople  the  Hon.  George  P.  Marsh,  United 
States  Minister  in  Turkey,  warned  me  not  to  attempt  to  travel 
in  Palestine.  The  Crimean  war  was  then  coming  on.  The 
Arab  population  in  Syria  and  Palestine  were  breaking  out  into 
lawless  violence,  and  no  Frank  or  European  was  safe.  But  we 
believed  the  reports  exaggerated,  and  determined  to  take  the 
risks.  Coming  by  ship  to  Beyrut,  we  journeyed  with  tents  and 
horses  to  Sidon  and  Tyre  and  Nazareth,  and  by  this  time  had 
fearful  evidence  of  the  unsettled  state  of  the  country.  At  Bey- 
rut the  Rev.  S.  H.  Calhoun,  and  at  Sidon  Dr.  William  H. 
Thomson,  had  joined  our  party,  consisting  of  Mr.  Groesbeck 
of  Cincinnati,  Rev.  George  E.  Hill  of  Boston,  Rev.  Chester  N. 
Righter  of  New  Jersey,  and  myself.  At  Nazareth  we  engaged 
an  armed  guard  to  escort  us  to  Nablous,  the  ancient  Shechem. 
Here  we  heard  such  fearful  reports  of  the  Bedouins  burning 
villages,  robbing  and  murdering  the  people,  that  we  came  to  a 
halt,  and  were  virtually  shut  up  two  or  three  days.  The  valiant 
guard  declined  to  go  forward  ;  our  muleteers  sent  us  word  that 
they  would  go  no  farther.  We  applied  to  the  governor  of 
Nablous  for  an  escort,  but  he  could  do  nothing  for  us.     Our 


26o  SAMUEL   IREN/tUS    TKIME. 

dragoman  i)roved  to  be  the  greatest  coward  of  the  party.  We 
were  compelled  to  be  patient,  and  improved  the  time  by  studying 
the  objects  of  sacred  interest  in  and  around  this  famous  old 
town. 

"  Now,  Jacob's  well  was  there.  There  is  no  spot  in  Palestine 
more  definitely  settled  upon  as  the  original  Jacob's  well  than 
this.  The  iJible  account  of  its  location  is  very  clear.  The  great 
value  placed  upon  wells  in  early  times  and  the  easy  tradition 
that  would  preserve  the  name  of  so  important  a  possession 
leaves  us  in  no  doubt  as  to  the  locality.  Our  party  was  under 
the  care  of  the  dragoman.  A  lad  and  a  poor  fellow  from  the 
town  hung  on  as  camp-followers,  running  behind  the  party,  who 
were  all  mounted.  Not  thinking  of  any  danger  in  the  immediate 
vicinity  of  Nablous,  we  left  our  pistols  at  our  lodgings,  and  there 
was  not  a  weapon  among  us.  This  was  just  as  well,  for  we 
could  not  have  made  any  effectual  resistance  when  attacked, 
and  would  only  have  provoked  the  enemy  to  destroy  us  if  we 
had  fired  on  them.  It  was  a  pleasant  half- hour's  ride  from  the 
gate  of  the  city  to  the  well. 

"  When  we  arrived  we  found  a  heap  of  rubbish  about  the 
well,  which  was  covered  with  a  stone.  This  we  removed,  and 
found  that  it  concealed  the  opening  through  a  wooden  platform, 
and  the  mouth  of  the  well  was  two  or  three  feet  on  one  side  of 
the  opening.  Mr.  Righter  and  I  crept  under  the  platform,  and 
proceeded  with  a  cord  and  weight  to  measure  the  depth  of  the 
well.  Just  as  the  weight  touched  the  bottom  the  cry  was  raised 
that  Bedouins  were  coming.  We  tied  a  knot  in  the  string  to 
keep  the  measure,  which  was  seventy-five  feet,  and  came  out. 
The  party  were  all  mounted  and  anxious  to  be  off;  for  a  party 
of  Arabs  were  riding  toward  us  in  single  file,  with  their  long 
spears  at  rest  and  guns  slung  over  their  shoulders.  The  better 
I)art  of  valor  was  for  us,  unarmed  and  on  horseback,  to  get  away 
from  the  enemy  as  speedily  as  possible.  Our  dragoman  proved 
indeed  our  leader  in  flight ;  for  instead  of  keeping  between  us 
and  the  enemy,  and  holding  a  parley  with  them  if  he  could,  he 


RESIDENCE   IN    BROOKLYN.  26 1 

was  off  like  a  shot  to  the  city,  and  left  us  to  our  fate.  As  my 
horse  had  been  selected  for  his  gentleness  and  easy  gait,  without 
regard  to  speed,  the  rest  of  the  party  soon  left  me  behind.  The 
savages  halted,  and  one  of  their  number  came  on  to  overtake 
me.  Looking  back  over  my  shoulder,  I  saw  him  coming  in  full 
leap  upon  me,  with  his  spear  balanced  and  ready  to  run  it 
through  my  back.  At  this  instant  Mr.  Righter,  who  had  gone 
on  ahead  of  me,  looked  around,  and  seeing  the  imminent  dan- 
ger to  which  I  was  exposed,  wheeled  about  and  dashed  between 
me  and  the  savage.  The  spear  hit  him  in  his  side,  went  through 
his  overcoat  and  underclothing,  made  a  flesh  wound  just  below 
the  ribs,  and  glanced  off.  Had  he  been  in  the  position  that  I 
was  in  it  would  have  gone  directly  into  his  body  and  killed  him 
without  a  doubt.  Mr.  Calhoun  and  Mr.  Thomson  rode  back 
to  us,  and  addressing  the  Arab  in  his  own  language,  to  his  great 
astonishment,  and  calling  him  friend,  they  seemed  to  shake  his 
purpose.  He  ordered  us  to  stay  where  we  were  while  he  went 
off  to  his  company.  But  we  did  not  obey  orders,  and  as  soon 
as  he  was  gone  we  went  the  other  way  with  accelerated  velocity, 
and  did  not  look  back  till  we  were  under  the  walls  of  the  city. 
The  two  camp-followers  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy,  were 
beaten  and  stripped  of  their  scant  clothing,  which  we,  however, 
made  up  to  them.  Once  more  in  my  lodgings,  I  examined  the 
wound  of  my  friend  Righter,  cleansed  it  thoroughly  with  cold 
water,  dressed  it  with  sticking-plaster,  and  sought  to  keep  him 
quiet  after  the  excitement.  His  cot  was  next  to  mine,  and  the 
night  following  this  eventful  day  I  often  put  out  my  hand,  which 
he  would  take  in  his  hand  and  press  it  in  token  of  the  love  that 
had  prompted  him  to  offer  his  life  for  his  friend ;  and  greater 
love  hath  no  man  than  this.  Neither  of  us  could  sleep  that 
night.  If  I  dozed  a  moment,  that  big  black  savage,  horse,  spear, 
gun  and  all,  would  dash  into  the  room,  and  sleep  would  fly 
from  me  as  I  did  from  him  a  few  hours  before.  It  was  some 
time  before  my  nerves  resumed  their  normal  condition.  His- 
tory has  made  some  heroic  friendships  immortal,  and  we  know 


262  SAML1:L    IREN.tUS    PRIME. 

that  soldiers  have  sacrificed  themselves  for  their  commanders ; 
but  no  story  tells  of  purer  and  nobler  self-sacrifice  than  this. 
One  minute  more  and  that  cruel  spear  would  have  gone  into  my 
back  and  come  out  of  my  breast.  He  rode  between  it  and  me 
and  received  it  in  his  side. 

"  Dr.  Calhoun  was  then  a  missionary  in  Mount  Lebanon. 
He  afterwards  came  to  this  country,  and  at  my  house  riiet  a 
hundred  ministers  and  other  friends.  He  was  dying  then,  and 
his  soul  lived  with  God  while  he  was  yet  in  the  flesh  ;  he  had 
relatives  to  whom  he  went,  and  then  he  slept  in  the  Lord.  Mr. 
Thomson  is  the  son  of  the  missionary  of  Sidon,  the  distinguished 
author  of  '  The  Land  and  the  Book.'  The  son  came  to  this  cit}-, 
and  is  now  a  great  physician,  and  the  instructor  of  that  wonder- 
ful Bible-class  in  Association  Hall.  Mr.  Groesbeck  died  in  this 
city.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Hill  is  an  honored  pastor  in  New  England. 
Not  long  after  he  returned  from  that  journey  he  sent  for  me  to 
come  to  New  Hampshire  and  make  him  the  happy  husband  of 
a  lovely  bride.  I  went.  His  son  is  now  an  assistant  in  my 
office,  and  writes  in  the  next  room  to  mine.  And  Righter, 
whom  you  call  'the  hero  of  Jacob's  well,'  —  Mr.  Hill  and  he 
came  home  with  me,  and  the  American  Bible  Society  prevailed 
on  him  to  go  back  to  the  Levant  in  its  sen-ice.  The  Crimean 
war  was  now  raging.  He  went  to  the  Crimea  ;  was  kindly  enter- 
tained by  Lord  Raglan,  the  English  general  in  command ;  vis- 
ited the  wounded,  ministered  to  the  dying,  pushed  his  way  into 
Assyria,  and  at  Diarbekir,  on  the  banks  of  the  Tigris,  after  fight- 
ing bravely  with  fever,  in  the  midst  of  tender,  loving,  Christian 
friends,  he  breathed  away  his  noble  soul." 

In  the  "New  York  Observer,"  of  May  19,  1853,  is 
published  the  first  of  those  scries  of  "  Irenaeus  Letters '' 
which  continued,  with  few  interruptions,  every  week  for 
more  than  thirty  years.  It  described  the  voyage  in  the 
•'  Devonshire  "  from  New  York  to  Portsmouth,  and  sub- 
sequent letters  continued  the  narrative  of  his  tour  during 


RESIDENCE   IN   BROOKLYN.  263 

many  months.  This  series  of  letters  was  included  in  the 
two  volumes  entitled,  "  Travels  in  Europe  and  East " 
(i2mo,  1855),  published  by  Harper  and  Brothers.  In 
the  preface  to  this  work  Dr.  Prime  says  :  — 

"  My  year  abroad  was  one  of  almost  unmingled  enjoyment. 
Leaving  home  a  wretched  invalid,  with  but  a  faint  prospect  of 
returning  to  a  grave,  I  gathered  health  and  strength  with  every 
month  of  travel.  In  every  land  new  friends  or  old  ones  gave 
me  a  glad  greeting ;  young  and  ardent  companions  hung  on  my 
steps,  ministered  to  my  wants  with  filial  kindness,  strengthened 
me  in  weakness,  sheltered  me  in  hours  of  danger,  and  endeared 
themselves  to  me  by  devotion  never  to  be  repaid." 

Dr.  Prime's  church  connection  in  Brooklyn  was  with 
the  Presbyterian  Church  under  the  pastoral  care  of  the 
Rev.  Henry  J.  Van  Dyke,  D.  D.,  successor  to  the  Rev. 
Melancthon  W.  Jacobus.  Here,  as  in  Newark,  he  was 
a  faithful  parishioner,  cordially  co-operating  with  the 
pastor  in  all  that  concerned  the  welfare  of  the  congrega- 
tion. His  interest  in  education  was  especially  manifest 
in  his  association  with  the  foundation  and  development 
of  the  Packer  Institute  for  Young  Ladies,  under  the  care 
of  Professor  Crittenden,  and  afterward  of  his  successor, 
Professor  Eaton. 

About  this  time  the  pulpit  of  Brooklyn  was  remark- 
able, as  it  has  been  ever  since,  for  the  wide  reputation 
of  its  preachers.  Though  the  Rev.  Dr.  Samuel  Hanson 
Cox  had  by  this  time  withdrawn  from  the  active  duties 
of  his  pastorate,  he  was  a  resident  of  the  city,  and  was 
frequently  heard  in  the  pulpit  of  his  former  charge  and 
on  public  occasions  of  general  interest.  Among  many 
reminiscences  of  this  extraordinary  man  which  are  re- 
corded by  Dr.  Prime  are  the  following:  — 


264  SAMUEL   IRENi^EUS   PRIME. 

"  One  (){  the  most  brilliant  intellects  of  the  American  pulpit 
passed  into  another  sky  when  Dr.  Cox  was  glorified.  More 
learned  men,  with  more  logical  and  far  more  nicely  balanced 
minds,  more  useful  ministers  and  leaders,  have  lived  in  his  day  ; 
but  we  have  had  no  one  with  his  blazing  genius,  bold  and  daz- 
zling eloquence,  range  of  imagination,  fertility  of  illustration, 
astonishing  memory,  exuberant  wit,  rapid  association  of  fdeas, 
stores  of  facts  and  words  from  classic  authors,  and  the  faculty 
of  expression  that  combined  the  sturdy,  grotesque  eccentricities 
of  Carlyle  with  the  flow  and  beauty  of  Macaulay. 

"  I  was  by  his  side  on  the  platform  when  he  was  moderator 
of  the  New-School  Presbyterian  General  Assembly  in  Phila- 
delphia. He  was  offering  the  prayer  in  the  morning,  and  in  the 
midst  of  it  he  said  :  '  O  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  thou  art  the  tie  plus 
ultra  of  our  desire,  the  sine  qua  ?ion  of  our  faith,  and  the  tiltima 
Thule  of  our  hope.' 

"  Yet,  so  natural  to  him  was  this  form  of  expression  that  he 
had  no  recollection  of  it  afterward.  His  friend.  Dr.  E.  F. 
Hatfield  was  by  his  side  also,  and  remembers  the  remarkable 
words. 

"  It  was  in  this  same  assembly  that  a  member  from  Ohio  cast 
reflections,  in  debate,  on  'decorated  divines,'  when  Dr.  Cox 
called  him  to  order,  remarking  with  gentle  humor,  *  The  brother 
should  not  speak  disrespectfully  of  doctors  of  divinity  ;  he  does 
not  know  what  he  may  come  to  himself.' 

"  When  Williams  College  made  Mr.  Cox  Dr.  Cox  he  declined 
the  degree  in  a  characteristic  letter  to  the  '  New  York  Ob- 
server,' ridiculing  the  tide  and  condemning  the  distinction.  My 
predecessor,  Sidney  E.  Morse,  published  the  letter,  of  two  solid 
columns.  That  is  the  letter  in  which  occurs  the  phrase  '  semi- 
lunar fardels,'  meaning  'D.D.,'  the  resemblance  of  the  letter  I) 
to  a  half-moon  suggesting  this  play.  But  by  and  by  Dr.  Cox 
thought  better  of  it,  and  was  then  heartily  sorry  that  he  ever 
wrote  the  foolish  letter.  But,  what  is  even  more  remarkable,  he 
blamed  Mr.  Morse  for  printing  the  letter,  saying  that  he  (Mr. 


RESIDENCE   IN   BROOKLYN.  265 

Morse)  ought  'to  have  had  sense  enough  to  decline  its  publi- 
cation.' Mr.  Morse  often  laughed  heartily  with  me  over  the 
eccentricity  of  Dr.  Cox's  mind  in  that  matter. 

"  His  memory  held  whole  pages  and  volumes  of  poetry  and 
prose,  which  he  could  recite  with  elegance  and  correctness,  as- 
tonishing and  delighting  the  favored  hearer.  Covvper's  '  Task,' 
Scott's  '  Marmion,'  and  Milton  were  favorites.  His  memory  of 
dates  and  names  appeared  conspicuously  in  his  lectures  on 
Biblical  chronology,  and  the  way  in  which  he  handled  '  Tiglath 
Pileser '  and  his  contemporaries  would  put  the  modern  lecturer 
to  confusion  if  he  were  to  attempt  an  imitation.  I  asked  him 
to  come  over  from  Brooklyn  to  lecture  in  a  course  I  was  con- 
ducting, but  he  refused  point-blank,  because  when  he  had  gone 
on  a  former  occasion  the  people  did  not  attend  !  I  assured  him 
there  would  be  no  lack  of  hearers,  and  he  finally  yielded  to  my 
gentle  blandishments.  We  walked  together  to  the  church  where 
he  was  to  speak,  going  early  to  put  up  some  maps  for  illustra- 
tion. Though  it  was  half  an  hour  before  the  time  to  begin,  we 
met  thousands  coming  away,  and  the  vestry  and  aisles  were  so 
packed  that  we  could  scarcely  get  in.  As  we  were  struggling 
up  he  said  to  me,  'This  lecture  has  been  well  primed.'  To 
which  I,  '  And  it  will  go  off  well,  too ; '  and  it  did.  He  dis- 
coursed on  Babylon.  Thirty-five  years  have  passed  since  that 
night ;  but  the  grandeur  of  the  scene,  those  hanging  gardens,  the 
palaces,  streets,  and  battlements  of  Babylon  the  Great  rise  now 
in  lustrous  glory  on  the  memory. 

"  How  much  I  do  regret  that  my  dear  friend  Dr.  Adams, 
whose  grave  is  not  yet  grass-grown,  did  not  comply  with  my 
request  to  write  out  the  introduction,  which  he  often  related  in 
my  company,  to  the  speech  of  Dr.  Cox  in  Exeter  Hall  when  he 
there  represented  the  American  Bible  Society  before  the  British 
and  Foreign.  Dr.  Adams  knew  it  word  for  word,  and  that  it 
is  in  print  I  do  not  know.  Dr.  Cox  arrived  in  London,  and  in 
Exeter  Hall  after  the  meeting  was  begun,  and  a  tirade  against 
America  greeted  him  as  he  entered.     As  the  speaker  sat  down 


266  SAMUEL  IREN^EUS   PRIME. 

Dr.  Cox  was  announced  as  the  delegate  from  the  American 
Society.  The  terrible  denunciation  just  delivered  had  excited 
the  indignation  of  the  audience,  and  Dr.  Cox  was  received  with 
respectful  coldness  ;  but  his  splendid  figure,  his  gallant,  cour- 
teous, commanding  presence,  his  irresistible  smile,  lightened 
instantly  the  gloom  of  the  hall,  and  conciliated  the  audience. 
He  said  something  like  this  :  — 

"  '  My  lord,  twenty  days  ago  I  was  taken  by  the  tug  "  Her- 
cules "  from  the  quay  in  New  York  to  the  good  ship  "  Samson," 
lying  in  the  stream  ;  thus,  my  lord,  going  from  strength  to 
strength,  —  from  mythology  to  Scripture.  By  the  good  hand 
of  the  Lord  I  was  brought  to  your  shores  just  in  time  to  reach 
this  house  and  to  enter  in  the  midst  of  the  burning  denuncia- 
tions of  my  beloved  country  that  have  fallen  from  the  lips  of  the 
gentleman  who  has  just  sat  down.  He  has  reproached  that 
country  for  the  existence  of  slavery,  which  I  abhor  as  much  as 
he.  I')Ut  he  did  not  tell  you,  my  lord,  that  when  we  revolted 
from  your  government  one  of  the  reasons  alleged  was  the  fact 
that  your  king  had  forced  that  odious  institution  upon  us  in 
spite  of  our  remonstrances,  and  that  the  original  sin  rests  with 
you  and  your  fathers.'  Ha\-ing  adduced  the  well-known  facts 
of  history  to  prove  this  position,  he  continued,  '  And  now,  my 
lord,  instead  of  indulging  in  mutual  reproaches,  I  propose  that 
the  gentleman  shall  be  Shem  and  I  will  be  Japheth,  and  taking 
the  mantle  of  charity,  we  will  walk  backward  and  co\-er  the 
nakedness  of  our  common  father.' 

"  The  effect  was  instantaneous  and  overwhelming ;  the  day 
was  won  ;  and  a  more  popular  orator  than  Dr.  Cox  was  not 
heard  during  the  anniversaries. 

"The  great  picture  that  was  made  to  represent  the  formation 
of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  in  London  in  1846  has  as  its  central 
figure  the  person  of  Dr.  Cox  addressing  the  Assembly.  His 
speech  on  that  occasion  is  considered  by  those  who  heard  it  as 
the  greatest  of  his  whole  life.  Much  opposition  was  made  by 
the  European  delegates  to  the  insertion  of  the  doctrine  of  future 


RESIDENCE   IN   BROOKLYN.  26/ 

punishment  into  the  platform  when  forming.  The  Americans 
insisted  upon  its  introduction.  Dr.  Cox  was  selected  by  them 
to  make  the  speech  in  defence  of  their  views.  He  spoke  and 
conquered.  Before  his  exhibition  of  the  revelation  of  God's  will 
in  his  Word,  his  vindication  of  the  faith  of  the  saints,  and  his  vivid 
illustrations  of  the  harmony  and  relations  of  the  several  parts  of 
the  evangelical  system,  the  fears  and  unbelief  of  good  men  went 
down  out  of  sight,  while  the  glory  of  the  Lord  rose  upon  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  the  council.  It  was  a  triumph  of  truth  to 
be  held  in  everlasting  remembrance. 

"  But  not  in  sacred  eloquence  only  was  Dr.  Cox  illustrious. 
His  reading  was  universal,  his  mind  cyclopedic,  his  tongue 
fluent,  mellifluous,  and  tireless.  Tap  him  on  any  subject,  and 
the  stream  came  bright,  sparkling,  refreshing,  like  a  mountain 
torrent,  or  a  meadow  rivulet,  or  a  deep,  broad,  majestic  river, 
filling  the  listener  with  joy,  often  with  amazement,  always  with 
new  impressions.  These  sudden  coruscations  were  the  best 
things  he  did.  His  labored  preparations  were  actually  some- 
times dull.  I  heard  him  preach  two  hours  before  the  American 
Board  at  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  and  the  audience  were  tired  to  ex- 
haustion. He  himself  was  so  mortified  by  the  failure  that  I 
pitied  him.  Just  think  of  that !  And  yet  the  next  day  there 
sprang  up  a  question  in  regard  to  Popery  in  the  Sandwich 
Islands,  and  he  went  off  with  a  philippic  against  the  '  Man  of 
Sin,'  and  the  woman  with  the  bad  name  in  the  Revelation,  so 
full  of  argument,  wit,  ridicule,  fact,  Scripture,  poetry,  chronology, 
prophecy,  and  pathos  that  a  great  congregation  was  roused, 
melted,  and  convulsed.  Such  outbursts  as  these  suggested  the 
remark,  when  the  November  meteoric  shower  was  first  observed, 
that  Dr.  Cox's  head  had  probably  exploded. 

"  And  something  very  like  a  meteoric  shower  it  was  when 
we  were  assembled  in  the  Academy  of  Music  to  receive  the 
astronomer  Professor  Mitchell,  and  listen  to  him  on  behalf  of  a 
projected  observatory  in  Central  Park.  The  house  was  filled 
with  the  most  brilliant,  intelligent,  scientific,  and  cultivated  au- 


268  SAMUEL  TREN.^:US    PRIME. 

dience.  Word  was  brought  that  sudden  illness  prevented  the 
eloquent  astronomer  from  leaving  his  bed.  This  word  was  sent 
to  me  by  the  Professor,  and  in  despair  I  went  to  Dr.  Cox  on 
the  stage,  told  him  the  distressing  truth,  and  implored  him  to 
come  to  the  rescue,  or  the  occasion  would  be  lost.  The  assem- 
bly joining  in  the  request,  he  complied,  and  when  the  applause 
on  his  rising  had  subsided,  he  said  :  '  To  put  me  in  the  place 
of  such  a  man  as  Professor  Mitchell  is  like  putting  a  rush-light 
in  the  place  of  Ursa  Major.'  And  then  he  proceeded  to  de- 
liver a  strictly  astronomical  discourse  of  three  quarters  of  an 
hour  that  electrified  the  assembly,  every  illustration  and  allusion 
of  which,  including  many  Scripture  quotations,  were  drawn  from 
the  science  itself,  as  if  it  were  the  study  of  his  life,  his  only  study. 
Not  one  man  in  ten  thousand  would  have  been  found  equal  to 

such  an  effort  in  such  circumstances.     In  fact,  as  Mr. has 

recently  said  that  there  are  not  more  than  thirty  men  in  Boston 
who  could  have  written  the  works  of  Shakespeare,  I  will  under- 
take to  admit  that  there  is  not  one  man  in  New  York  who  could 
have  made  that  speech. 

"  And  thus  might  I  run  on  into  pages  of  reminiscence  of  this 
wonderful  man,  —  the  most  remarkable  man  of  the  last  genera- 
tion in  the  pulpit  of  New  York.  If  a  merry  heart  is  good  as  a 
medicine,  how  many  doctors'  bills  Dr.  Cox  has  saved  me  !  What 
nodes  ambrosiance  I  have  had  with  him  in  the  fellowship  of  the 
saints  whom  he  drew  into  that  circle  of  Christian  brothers  known 
as  '  X.  A.  '  in  New  York  !  He  was  its  founder.  Its  jubilee  came 
this  year,  and  Dr.  Adams  was  appointed  to  recite  its  history  ;  but 
he  preceded  the  founder  by  a  few  brief  weeks  to  a  holier  fellow- 
ship on  high. 

"  I  do  thank  God  for  such  men,  —  for  their  friendship,  for 
genial  intercourse,  nightly  converse,  and  daily  service  with  such 
servants  of  Christ.  Their  names  were  long  since  written  in 
heaven.  The  earth  seems  dim  since  their  light  has  gone  out. 
/\nd  as  I  close  this  letter  the  thought  comes  to  me  with  an 
overpowering,  but  also  with  exhilarating,  almost  rapturous,  effect, 


RESIDENCE   IN   BROOKLYN.  269 

that  this  companionship  will  soon  be  renewed,  and  into  the 
widened  circle  will  come  the  wise  and  the  good  of  all  ages  and 
all  lands.  That  company  will  never  break  up ;  that  feast  and 
flow  will  be  everlasting." 

Equally  renowned  as  an  orator  was  another  friend 
and  neighbor  of  Dr.  Prime,  the  Rev.  Dr.  George  W. 
Bethune,  pastor  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  on  the 
Heights,  Brooklyn,  who  died  in  Italy  April  27,  1862. 
His  name  is  mentioned  with  admiration  and  affection  in 
Irenasus's  thirtieth  autobiographical  "Letter."  His  many 
personal  associations  with  this  accomplished  preacher, 
poet,  and  public  speaker,  are  indicated  in  the  "  Irenaeus 
Letter  "  written  at  the  time  of  Dr.  Bethune's  burial  in 
Greenwood,  and  in  which  it  is  said :  — 

"  All  the  circumstances,  antecedents,  and  surroundings  made 
the  occasion  one  of  great  sublimity  and  moral  beauty. 

"  You  will  recall  the  man,  his  social,  private,  public,  and 
religious  character,  and  note  the  space  he  filled  in  the  hearts  of 
his  friends,  the  Church,  and  the  world.  You  remember  his 
voice  and  manner  when  he  preached  the  gospel  in  the  pulpit, 
when  he  surpassed  himself  in  Tripler  Hall  at  the  Madiai  meet- 
ing, and  offered  to  lay  his  head  upon  the  block  as  a  martyr  in 
the  cause  of  religious  Hberty,  even  the  liberty  of  Roman  Catholics, 
whose  outrage  of  the  principle  we  had  met  to  condemn  before 
God  and  man.  You  recall  his  magnificent  discourse  in  the 
Academy  of  Music  when  he  preached  Christ  crucified  to  the 
gathered  thousands  thronging  that  splendid  theatre  from  pit  to 
dome  ;  how  his  clear  silver  voice  rang  like  a  clarion  through  the 
arches,  and  reached  and  held  the  most  distant  sinner  there,  as 
he  unfolded  the  words  of  his  simple  text,  '  Do  thyself  no  harm.' 
In  the  same  place  and  a  year  or  two  afterward  other  thousands 
were  assembled  to  avow  their  fealty  to  the  Union,  and  to  conse- 
crate themselves  to  its  salvation.    It  was  nearly  midnight  when  the 


2/0  SAMUEL   IREX.KUS    PRIME. 

wearied  but  enthusiastic  multitude  caught  sight  of  Bethune,  who 
had  come  in  late.  His  name  was  shouted  over  the  house,  and 
he  would  not  resist  the  call.  I  never  heard  him  speak  with 
more  popular  eloquence  than  he  did  that  night.  Would  to  God 
his  words  had  been  heeded.  '  I  am  no  politician,'  said  he, '  but 
I  will  never  vote  for  any  man  —  no,  not  if  he  were  my  own 
brotlier  who  had  lain  with  me  in  my  mother's  womb  —  on  \vhom 
there  rests  a  shadow  of  a  suspicion  of  a  stain  of  disunion.'  Vou 
remember  how  he  was  carried  fK)m  place  to  place  during  our 
religious  anniversaries  to  speak  again  and  again  the  same  evening 
to  different  audiences.  I  have  known  him  to  address  three 
meetings  the  same  night,  so  eagerly  was  he  sought  and  heard  on 
the  platform  as  well  as  in  the  pulpit. 

"  You  must  recall  these  elements  in  his  character  and  these 
facts  in  his  brilliant  career,  when  thinking  of  his  friends  bearing 
his  remains  to  their  burial.  But  these  are  not  all.  You  will  recol- 
lect that  when  the  hand  of  God  touched  him,  and  the  mighty 
man  had  faltered  on  the  high  places  of  Israel,  that  he  went  away 
to  a  distant  land  to  seek  a  new  lease  of  life  in  the  genial  clime 
of  Italy  or  to  die.  He  thought  he  should  die  there.  Not  so 
soon  ;  for  he  had  large  plans  of  usefulness  that  were  to  be 
worked  out  there,  and  in  a  letter  I  had  from  him,  written  the 
week  before  he  died,  he  sought  co-operation  in  these  schemes 
of  labor  for  the  enlightenment  of  that  classic,  beautiful,  but  per- 
verted land.  And  there,  in  Florence,  the  fairest  city  of  south- 
ern Europe,  in  the  midst  of  the  rarest  and  lo\-eliest  forms  and 
monuments  of  genius,  taste  and  art  —  in  Florence,  where  (Gal- 
ileo held  converse  with  the  heavens,  and  Milton  found  inspira- 
tion and  repose  communing  with  him  and  the  stars  —  Florence, 
where  Dante  and  Michael  Angelo  sat  and  admired  the  dome  of 
Brunelleschi  —  Florence,  where  the  masterpieces  of  Titian  and 
Raphael  still  live,  with  statues  that  enchant  the  world,  though 
the  names  of  their  makers  perished  with  the  antique  peoples  to 
whom  they  belonged,  —  there  in  Florence,  in  the  midst  of  art 
that  our  l)rother's  cultivated  taste  rejoiced  in,  and  in  that  soft. 


RESIDENCE   IN   BROOKLYN.  27 1 

bland  atmosphere  that  seems  to  be  the  air  of  immortality,  there 
he  dies.  A  few  days  before  his  death  he  had  been  asked  to 
step  out  and  see  the  Italian  sunset,  and  he  then  remarked, 
'  What  a  land  to  live  in  or  to  die  in  ! ' 

"You  will  remember  that  when  his  gentle  and  noble  heart 
was  still,  they  embalmed  his  form  and  sent  it  home  to  us 
that  we  might  lay  it  with  his  sainted  parents'  dust.  For  three 
long  months  it  was  tossed  on  the  sea,  and  we  feared  the  bark 
that  bore  it  had  been  lost,  and  our  friend  liad  found  his  tomb  in 
the  unfathomed  caves  of  ocean,  there  to  rest  till  the  sea  gives  up 
its  dead.  But  the  winds  and  waves  had  been  charged  with  their 
errand,  and  they  brought  their  burden  safely  here.  And  now 
devout  men  were  bearing  him  to  his  burial. 

"It  was  at  the  close  of  a  lovely  September  day  when  the 
procession  reached  Greenwood  Cemetery.  The  tomb  to  which 
it  pursued  its  mournful  way  was  in  the  most  picturesque  portion 
of  the  grounds.  On  a  hillside  that  slopes  to  a  lake  in  the  mid- 
dle of  which  a  fountain  leaps  and  falls,  surrounded  by  lofty 
forest-trees^  and  among  them  white  marble  monuments  marking 
the  repose  of  the  dead,  here  on  this  hillside  the  procession 
rested,  and  found  the  open  tomb.  At  the  head  of  it  stood 
Chancellor  Ferris,  and  on  either  side  of  him  the  officiating  min- 
isters and  the  bearers,  many  of  them  the  most  venerable  and 
distinguished  of  the  clergy,  in  their  pulpit  gowns  with  white 
scarfs,  their  gray  heads  uncovered  and  reverently  bowed  as  the 
Chancellor  read  the  words  of  Holy  Writ,  and  the  body  of  our 
departed  brother  was  lowered  into  the  tomb,  and  laid  with  his 
parents,  and  his  grandmother,  Isabella  Graham.  The  sun  was 
just  setting.  Italy  rarely  if  ever  sees  a  more  glorious  sunset. 
Its  last  rays  lingered  in  sympathy  with  us  as  we  wept  that  the 
light  of  our  friend's  face  and  voice  and  love,  like  the  sun,  was 
going  out  in  the  darkness  of  the  grave  ;  but  when  we  heard  the 
rapturous  words,  '  this  mortal  shall  put  on  immortality,'  '  I  am 
the  resurrection  and  the  life,'  we  saw  him  rising  and  soaring,  not 
on  the  wings  of  seraphic  eloquence,  but  clothed  in  white  rai- 


272  SAMUEL    IREN^.US    PRIME. 

ment,  with  palms  of  triumph  in  his  hand  before  the  throne  of  God 
and  the  Lamb,  a  glorified  body  and  soul,  rejoicing  with  the 
Redeemer  and  the  redeemed  in  his  Father's  house." 

Dr.  Prime  was  associated  with  one  of  Dr.  Bcthunc's 
last  literary  works,  the  preparation  of  the  memoirs  of 
Dr.  Bcthunc's  mother,  Mrs.  Joanna  Bcthunc,  published 
by  Harper  and  Brothers  in  1863.  In  a  prefatory  note 
to  this  volume  Dr.  Prime  says  :  — 

''  About  one  year  before  the  Rev.  Dr.  Bethune  went  abroad 
and  died  he  asked  me  to  aid  him  in  preparing  a  biographical 
sketch  of  his  mother.  He  desired  me  to  read  her  journals,  medita- 
tions, recorded  prayers,  and  letters,  and  from  them  to  select  such 
passages  as  might  be  thought  useful  if  published  as  an  appendix 
to  the  memoir.  After  I  had  completed  the  examination  I  placed 
the  manuscripts  in  his  hands,  with  the  selected  passages  marked  ; 
and  he  then  wrote  the  memoir  which  is  now  presented  to  the 
reader.  It  is  his  last  work, — a  beautiful,  living  tribute  by  a 
gifted,  affectionate  son  to  his  sainted  mother.  Other  works  of 
this  eloquent  and  distinguished  scholar,  poet,  preacher,  and 
orator  have  been  published,  l)ut  nothing  from  his  pen  will  be 
read  with  greater  admiration  than  this  simple  memorial  of  the 
mother  who  taught  him  to  speak. 

"  The  extracts  from  the  writings  of  Mrs.  Joanna  Bethune 
which  are  given  as  an  appendix  to  the  memoir  are  a  rich  legacy 
to  the  Church.  In  many  respects  they  are  not  less  valuable  and 
interesting  than  the  remains  of  her  remarkable  mother,  Mrs. 
Isabella  Graham.  They  exhibit  a  life  of  extraordinary  activity, 
of  deep  spiritual  feeling,  and  strong  faith  in  the  promises  of  God 
to  parents  for  their  children  and  children's  children. 

"  Extending  over  a  long  series  of  years,  these  extracts,  which 
might  have  been  continued  to  fill  several  volumes,  complete  the 
biography  written  by  her  son,  and  show  the  mother  in  the  midst 
of  her  incessant  toil  for  the  young,  founding  the  Sunday-school 


RESIDENCE   IN   BROOKLYN.  273 

Union  system,  infant  schools,  the  orphan  as3'liim,  and  abound- 
ing in  every  good  work,  humbly  seeking  divine  aid  in  the 
minutest  and  most  secular  duties,  and,  above  all,  praying  with- 
out ceasing  for  the  conversion  of  her  posterity  to  the  latest 
generation. 

"  Christian  ladies  will  read  these  pages,  and  be  stimulated 
and  guided  in  noble  self-denying  labors  for  the  world  around 
them ;  and  aged  women  will  here  find  a  beautiful  example  of 
holy  living  and  dying  that  will  comfort  and  cheer  them  in  the 
evening  of  their  days, 

"  The  life  of  the  author  of  this  memoir  remains  to  be  written. 
His  death,  so  sudden  and  in  a  far-away  country,  was  a  shock 
and  a  grief  to  his  friends  and  the  Christian  community  from 
which  they  have  not  yet  recovered  ;  but  they  will  receive  with 
mournful  satisfaction  these  last  fruits  of  his  pen,  —  the  yearn- 
ings of  his  warm  heart  for  her  with  whom  he  is  now  at  rest  in 
glory." 

Thene  were  giants  in  those  days  in  the  pulpits  of 
Brooklyn ;  some  of  them  are  still  there  in  the  fulness 
of  their  strength  ;  but  the  greater  number  have  entered 
into  rest,  and  their  works  do  follow  them. 

In  1858  Dr.  Prime  changed  his  residence  to  New 
York  City,  where  during  the  greater  part  of  every  year 
he  continued  to  reside  until  he  was  removed  to  the 
"  city  which  hath  foundations,  whose  builder  and  maker 
is  God." 


18 


part  JTourti), 

RESIDENCE    IN    NEW    YORK    CITY 

1858-1885. 


part  JFourtlj. 

RESIDENCE   IN    NEW  YORK  CITY. 

1858-1885. 

DR.  PRIME'S  removal  to  New  York  City  brought 
him  into  closer  contact  than  ever  with  numerous 
religious,  benevolent,  and  social  activities.  These  were 
never  numerous  enough  to  prevent  him  from  welcoming 
fresh  opportunities  to  aid  the  cause  of  evangelical  re- 
ligion. He  was  interested  in  the  deputation  from  the 
Presbyterian  Church  of  Ireland  which  visited  this  coun- 
try on  a  financial  mission  in  1859.  It  consisted  of  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Edgar,  Rev.  S.  M.  Dill,  and  the  Rev.  David 
Wilson,  and  their  mission  was  entirely  successful.  On 
the  eve  of  their  departure,  Dec.  16,  1859,  they  were  en- 
tertained by  Dr.  Prime  at  dinner  at  the  St.  Nicholas 
Hotel.  More  than  fifty  personal  friends  were  present. 
Addresses  were  made  by  the  Irish  visitors  and  many  dis- 
tinguished clergymen  and  laymen.  Rev.  Drs.  S.  H.  Cox, 
William  Adams,  G.  W.  Bethune,  Nicholas  Murray,  Joel 
Parker,  John  Thompson,  and  Professors  S.  F.  B.  Morse 
and  O.  M.  Mitchell,  Mr.  Cyrus  W.  Field,  and  the  Messrs. 
George  H.  and  James  Stuart  of  Philadelphia,  were  among 
the  speakers. 

But  a  few  months  before  his  death  Dr.  Prime  made 
the  following  note  in  regard  to  this  gathering :  "  Feb. 
16,  1885,  being  twenty-six  years  since  I  entertained  the 
Irish   deputation   at   dinner.      Sixty-two   were   invited ; 


278  SAMUEL   IREN.^iUS    PRIME. 

fifty-two  were  present;  thirty  of  the  fifty-two  are  dead; 
nine  of  the  ten  absent  arc  dead;  seven  of  our  own 
family  were  present,  and  all  of  them  arc  living."  Thus 
in  less  than  thirty  years  nearly  two  thirds  of  this  circle 
of  friends,  most  of  whom  were  in  the  prime  of  life,  had 
passed  away. 

In  the   "New  York  Observer,"  April   5,  i860,  after 
twenty  years'  editorial  labor,  Dr.  Prime  remarks  :  — 

"  We  are  writing  in  the  building  that  stands  where  the 
Brick  Church  stood,  itself  remembered  in  history;  but 
the  pastor,  then  venerable,  is  only  more  so  now  (Rev. 
Dr.  Gardiner  Spring).  When  we  first  met  the  blessed 
Milnor,  now  the  glorified,  he  said,  '  The  doctrines  that 
I  love  I  always  find  set  forth  and  defended  in  the  "  Ob-, 
server."  '  That  beautiful  and  tranquil  light  of  the  Epis- 
copal Church  has  set.  Mason,  Cone,  and  Knox  were 
here  with  Milnor  then  ;  they  arc  all  gone  now.  Others 
have  come  since  and  departed  ;  but  the  great  body  of 
clergy  hold  forth  the  word  of  life  as  they  did  twenty 
years  ago.  With  these  revolving  years,  increasing  op- 
portunities of  observation,  reflection,  comparison,  and 
experience,  we  become,  as  is  natural,  perhaps  inevitable, 
more  and  more  attached  to  those  precious  truths  which 
have  been  our  support  and  that  of  the  Church  in  all 
ages,  and  never  more  than  now.  Men  change,  and 
times  change,  and  parties  and  interests  ;  but  principles, 
like  the  word  of  God,  abide  forever.  In  an  evil  world 
good  men  are  always  aiming  at  reform  ;  and  the  last 
twenty  years  have  been  the  great  years  of  reform  ;  but 
when  all  means  of  human  devising  have  been  tried  and 
failed  we  just  have  to  come  back  to  the  principles  of 
divine  wisdom,  find  what  the  word  of  God  teaches,  and 
seek  to  appl\'  it  to  the  case  in  hand.     So  it  has  been; 


RESIDENCE   IN   NEW   YORK   CITY.  2/9 

SO  it  will  be.  In  all  the  reformations  of  our  day  no  per- 
manent good  has  been  effected  by  any  organization  that 
has  gone  beyond  or  fallen  behind  the  teachings  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures.  Hence  with  these  advancing  years 
we  find  the  most  marked  effect  of  discussion  to  be  an 
increased  attachment  to  the  essentials  of  Christian  doc- 
trine, an  increasing  conviction  that  in  non-essentials  there 
be  liberty,  and  in  all  things  charity.  The  motto  is  an- 
cient, but  never  more  pertinent  than  now.  It  is  no 
longer  a  matter  of  wonder  to  us  that  others  cannot  see 
with  our  eyes.  Good  men  have  always  differed,  and 
will  so  long  as  all  see  but  in  part;  and  in  clearer  light 
than  this  we  shall  wonder  at  our  blindness,  and  admire 
the  grace  that  brought  us  through  all  our  troubles  and 
differences  safely  unto  the  perfect  day." 

Though  the  editor  wrote  thus  serenely,  his  career 
from  the  beginning  had  been  marked  by  vigorous  con- 
troversy. At  the  very  entrance  upon  his  editorial  duties 
he  attacked  the  Fourierite  and  kindred  social  notions 
which  were  being  favored  by  one  of  the  leading  New  York 
daily  newspapers.  When  the  slavery  question  became  the 
burning  question  in  the  Church,  as  well  as  in  the  State, 
Dr.  Prime  defended  the  position  which  was  occupied  by 
conservative  men  throughout  the  country.  He  had  no 
sympathy  with  the  radical  spirit  in  the  South  or  the 
North,  which,  on  one  side  for  love  of  slavery,  and  on 
the  other  side  for  hatred  of  slavery,  was  ready  to  plunge 
the  country  into  the  gulf  of  separation  and  war.  When 
moral,  spiritual,  and  peaceful  methods  ended  in  the  ap- 
peal to  arms,  he  espoused  the  cause  of  the  Union  with 
unfailing  energy  and  faith.  His  editorial  labors  through 
these  national  and  ecclesiastical  crises  are  part  of  the 
literary  history  of  the  country.     Their  result  was  mani- 


28o  SAMUEL   IREN.EUS    PRIME. 

fcst  in  making  him  more  than  ever  an  influential  ex- 
ample of  fearless,  aggressive  advocacy,  through  evil 
report  and  good  report,  of  what  he  believed  to  be  the 
truth  of  God  and  the  welfare  of  the  country. 

After  removing  to  New  York  Dr.  Prime  had  a  sum- 
mer home  in  the  village  of  White  Plains,  Westchester 
County,  N.  V.,  until  he  purchased  a  place  on  the  banks 
of  the  Hudson  River  at  Dobbs'  Ferry,  where  he  resided 
in  the  summer  season  for  several  years. 

In  1866  he  made  an  extensive  tour  in  northern  and 
southern  Europe.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  he  attended 
the  annual  conference  of  the  British  Evangelical  Alliance 
at  Bath,  England,  and  addressed  the  meeting.  He  went 
abroad  again  in  1876,  attending  as  delegate  the  Presby- 
terian General  Council  at  Edinburgh,  in  July,  1877. 

All  these  rural  and  travel  experiences  furnished  ma- 
terial for  the  "  IrenKus  Letters,"  which  appeared  with 
unfailing  regularity  from  week  to  week.  Many  of  these 
were  gathered  into  volumes,  which  form  part  of  that 
library  which  contains  only  a  fragment  of  the  labor 
performed  during  his  fifty  years  of  continuous  literary 
activity. 

Many  clergymen  and  laymen  in  various  parts  of  the 
country  remember  Dr.  Prime  personally,  as  an  influen- 
tial member  of  Synods,  General  Assemblies,  and  other 
religious  bodies.  Being  a  ready  and  forcible  speake:-, 
alert,  intense  and  full  of  humor,  he  was  singularly  suc- 
cessful in  winning  sympathy  and  approval  for  the  prin- 
ciples and  measures  which  he  advocated.  His  private 
papers  furnish  no  record  of  his  part  in  numerous  im- 
portant ecclesiastical  meetings.  Published  minutes  are 
so  meagre  that  it  is  not  practicable  to  obtain  from  them 
any  impressions  that  are  of  personal  interest. 


RESIDENCE   IN   NEW    YORK   CITY.  28 1 

Those  who  heard  him  deHver  an  unpremeditated  ad- 
dress on  "  The  Church  of  Rome  "  in  the  General  As- 
sembly of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  Saratoga,  N.  Y. 
May  26,  1879,  realized  the  remarkable  command  of  re- 
sources and  intensity  of  conviction  with  which  he  was 
invariably  prepared  to  defend  the  faith,  or  to  attack 
what  he  believed  to  be  injurious  error. 

In  May,  1883,  Dr.  Prime,  with  other  delegates  from 
the  Northern  Presbyterian  Church,  attended  the  General 
Assembly  of  the  Southern  Presbyterian  Church  which 
met  in  Lexington,  Kentucky.  His  words  at  the  close  of 
his  address  at  the  reception  of  the  delegates,  indicate 
the  spirit  in  which  he  participated  in  such  scenes  and 
incidents. 

"I  am  reminded  that  twenty-five  years  ago  our  undivided 
and  blessed  assembly  met  in  this  lovely  city  of  Lexington.  I 
was  in  the  pulpit  with  that  profound  theologian  and  eloquent 
preacher  and  beloved  man,  Dr.  James  Henley  Thornwell. 
Dr.  William  S.  Plumer  was  here,  and  Dr.  Robert  J.  Breckinridge  ; 
men  of  power,  men  of  God,  who  waxed  valiant  in  fight  for  the 
truth  and  the  Church.  You  may  build  your  walls  about  your 
Assembly  as  high  as  you  please,  but  you  cannot  build  them  so 
high  as  to  separate  me  from  communion  with  them.  I  would 
mount  up  on  wings  as  the  eagle  and  soar  into  the  heaven 
of  heavens,  where  they  reign  with  Christ  and  the  saints.  I 
would  find  Thornwell  with  Paul,  and  Plumer  with  Isaiah,  and 
P>reckinridge  with  Peter,  and  all  joining  with  the  redeemed  in 
the  song  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb.  You  might  as  well  try  to 
strike  out  the  names  of  Washington  and  Henry  Clay  from  the 
history  of  my  country,  and  to  say  I  have  no  part  with  them,  as 
to  deny  me  by  resolutions  and  proclamations,  true  sympathy 
and  fraternal  relations  with  these  and  other  great  and  good  men 
whose  lives  are  my  heritage,  and  a  part  of  the  annals  of  my 


282  SAMLEL   IREN.EUS    PRIME. 

church.     With  them  I  held  sweet  communion  while  they  lived, 
and  to  renew  that  communion  it  were  sweet  to  die." 

On  Tuesday  morning,  Jan.  31,  1882,  at  about  half- 
past  ten,  just  as  the  forms  of  the  "  New  York  Observer," 
were  about  to  be  sent  to  the  press-room,  the  building  in 
which  the  editorial,  business,  and  composing-rooms  were 
situated,  took  fire,  and  in  a  few  moments  the  flames 
surged  through  the  halls.  At  the  first  alarm  Dr.  Prime 
and  his  son,  Rev.  Dr.  Wendell  Prime,  with  others  in  the 
offices,  passed  into  the  hall  to  find  the  rear  stairway  in 
flames  ;  but  they  were  able  to  reach  the  front  stairway, 
and  descended  two  flights  in  safety  to  the  street.  His 
brother,  the  Rev.  Dr.  E.  D.  G.  Prime,  and  his  son-in- 
law,  the  Rev.  Dr.  C.  A.  Stoddard,  lingered  to  look  after 
important  papers,  and  were  unable  to  reach  the  stair- 
way. They  escaped  by  the  window,  climbing  along  the 
signs  into  the  window  of  the  "  Times  "  Building  adjoin- 
ing. Others  were  rescued  by  ladders  at  the  windows ; 
several  perished,  among  them  three  of  those  employed 
in  the  composing-room  on  the  fifth  floor.  While  the 
fire  was  still  raging  rooms  were  engaged  at  the  Astor 
House,  as  a  retreat  for  the  editors.  Off"ers  of  assistance 
were  numerous,  and  the  kind  offer  from  the  managers 
of  the  "Tribune"  was  accepted.  Within  sight  of  the 
still  burning  building  Dr.  Prime  dictated  to  a  stenogra- 
pher several  columns  of  copy  during  a  few  continuous 
hours,  while  the  other  editors  reproduced  to  the  best  of 
their  ability  their  work  which  was  being  consumed  in 
the  conflagration.  In  a  few  hours  it  was  all  in  the  hands 
of  the  "Tribune"  printers,  and  the  "New  York  Ob- 
server" appeared  that  week  as  usual,  with  but  a  short 
delay. 


RESIDENCE   IN   NEW    YORK   CITY.  28- 


LITERARY    LABORS. 

From  some  private  notes,  which  were  evidently  not* 
written   for  publication,   it   is   possible   to   give    in    Dr. 
Prime's  own  words    a  sketch  of  some   of  his  literary 
labors  during  his  later  years:  — 

"  Not  many  weeks  after  the  death  of  Prof.  S.  F.  B.  Morse 
(April  2,  1872),  inventor  of  the  telegraph,  the  executors  of  his 
estate  and  his  widow  united  in  a  written  request  that  I  would 
take  charge  of  his  papers  and  prepare  his  biography.  His 
nephew,  Sidney  E.  Morse,  was  my  partner  in  the  '  Observer,' 
and  he  was  very  urgent  that  I  should  accept  the  invitation. 
But  my  studies  had  never  been  in  a  direction  to  qualify  me  for 
such  a  work,  and  I  was  very  reluctant  to  undertake  it.  All  the 
friends  whom  I  consulted  advised  me  to  take  hold  of  it,  and 
after  patient  inquiry  and  an  examination  of  the  material  I  yielded 
to  the  request.  Had  I  known  what  labor  it  was  to  cost,  I  would 
not  have  put  my  hand  to  it.  In  his  study  I  found  heaps  of 
unarranged  manuscripts,  thousands  of  miscellaneous  letters, 
unnumbered  pamphlets,  books,  and  papers,  with  cuttings  from 
newspapers  innumerable ;  and  this  mighty  mass,  indigesta 
jtioles,  to  be  reduced  from  chaos  to  order,  and  then  explored 
for  the  few  hundred  pages  that  could  be  used  in  a  popular 
memoir  !  Not  a  line  was  left  by  him  as  a  help  or  guide  to  his 
biographer.  His  brothers  were  dead  ;  he  had  outlived  the  com- 
panions of  his  early  years ;  there  was  not  a  living  person  who 
could  be  of  any  great  assistance.  But  having  agreed  to  do  the 
work,  I  stripped  to  it.  I  could  not  be  spared  from  the  '  Ob- 
server,' and  my  fear  was  very  great  that  I  might  be  tempted  to 
neglect  my  daily  duties  in  order  to  make  progress  with  the 
memoir.  On  this  account  I  think  I  labored  harder  than  ever 
upon  the  '  Observer.'  My  habit  was  to  devote  the  forenoon  to 
the  Morse  work^  and  the  afternoon  and  the  evening  to  the  paper. 


284  SAMUEL    IKEN.liUS    PRIME. 

'I'u  niy  study  in  the  Bible  House  (Room  56)  I  had  all  the 
manuscripts  of  Professor  Morse  remo\ed.  Surrounding  the 
room  with  shelves,  I  employed  assistants  to  sort  the  papers, 
arrange  the  letters  in  the  order  of  dates,  and  to  catalogue  such 
papers  as  promised  to  be  available.  Then  came  the  perusal  of 
this  vast  array  of  letters,  etc.,  not  one  in  a  score  affording  the 
least  material,  but  all  to  be  read  that  nothing  might  by  oversight 
be  lost.  Correspondence  became  necessary  with  persons  to 
whom  reference  was  made.  Inquiries  were  instituted  which 
required  frequent  letters  and  journeys  and  interviews.  Discus- 
sions arose  in  regard  to  matters  of  fact,  claims  of  rivals,  rights 
of  parties,  and  the  truth  of  published  statements,  and  in  a  few 
months  I  found  myself  involved  in  unaccustomed  pursuits  the 
most  perplexing,  harassing,  and  interminable.  Sometimes  I  was 
nearly  distracted  by  the  conflict  of  opinions,  and  the  apparent 
im])Ossibility  of  following  the  thread  of  my  story  along  the  line 
of  truth,  so  involved  became  the  labyrinth  of  human  life.  At 
such  times  I  would  lie  down  and  wait  till  my  bewildered  brain 
was  quiet,  and  then  resuming  the  work,  would  follow  it  to  some 
result. 

''During  an  illness  in  1871  I  wrote  for  the  '  Obser\-er '  some 
'  letters,'  which  I  made  into  a  little  volume,  entitled  '  Walking 
with  God,  the  Life  hid  with  Christ.'  This  was  pubhshed  by 
A.  D.  F.  Randolph  in  the  midst  of  my  work  upon  the  '  Life  of 
Morse,'  and  the  testimonies  which  came  to  me  of  its  usefulness 
were  most  comforting  and  delightful. 

"During  the  winter  of  1872-1873  I  was  tempted  to  prepare 
my  letters  in  the  'Observer'  from  Spain  and  the  North  of  Eu- 
rope, written  in  1866-1867,  for  a  volume.  I  put  the  letters, 
which  my  aged  mother  had  carefully  collected  and  preserved 
in  books  made  with  her  own  hands,  into  the  charge  of  a  friend, 
who  arranged  them  in  the  form  of  chapters  and  made  tables  of 
contents.  Then  I  revised  the  work,  and  gave  to  it  the  title 
'  The  Alhambra  and  the  Kremlin,  the  South  and  the  North  of 
Europe.'     ^Ttl('l^  time  was  spent  in  seeking  illustrations   for  the 


RESIDENCE   IN   NEW   YORK   CITY.  285 

volume,  which  was  to  be  and  was  made  as  handsome  as  the 
state  of  the  book-making  art  would  permit.  But  I  pursued  it 
at  leisure  moments,  —  perhaps  rather  as  a  relaxation  from  the 
severer  labors  on  the  biography,  which  was  now  the  great  work 
on  which  my  thoughts  were  engaged  when  I  turned  away  from 
the  '  Observer.'  A.  D.  F.  Randolph  &  Co.  published  my  book 
of  travel  in  the  fall  of  1873,  and  it  was  received  with  great  favor 
by  the  public. 

"  In  May,  1873,  we  took  possession  of  the  house  I  had  pur- 
chased in  January  on  Murray  Hill.  It  required  complete  over- 
hauling, and  it  was  not  until  midsummer  that  we  were  settled. 
This  was  a  great  interruption  to  my  labors  on  the  Morse  book, 
and  seriously  retarded  its  progress.  As  soon,  however,  as  my 
study  was  ready  in  the  new  house,  I  had  the  whole  of  the  Morse 
material  transferred  to  it,  and  relinquishing  my  private  room  in 
the  Bible  House,  pursued  all  my  literary  labors  under  my  own 
roof. 

"  Through  many  years,  indeed  during  the  whole  of  my  pro- 
fessional life,  I  had  been  collecting  material  and  arranging  the 
plan  for  a  selection  of  religious  poems  illustrating  the  graces  and 
experiences  of  the  Christian  life.  Gathering  many  of  the  books 
of  poetry  made  by  other  collectors,  and  the  best  works  of  modern 
and  ancient  poets  whose  souls  were  in  harmony  with  mine,  I 
again  employed  a  young  friend  to  carry  out  my  idea  and  pre- 
pare the  book,  to  which  I  gave  the  name  of  '  Songs  of  the  Soul.' 
Taking  the  work  then  into  my  own  hands,  I  threw  out  many 
poems,  introduced  more,  and  having  thoroughly  revised  the 
whole,  and  by  written  application  to  the  authors  or  publishers 
obtained  their  consent  to  use  copyright  poems,  I  put  the  book 
into  the  hands  of  the  publishers,  Robert  Carter  &  Brothers,  who 
issued  it  in  elegant  style,  small  quarto,  in  the  winter,  just  before 
Christmas,  of  1873.  The  reception  it  met  was  most  gratifying 
and  unexpected.  The  first  edition  was  exhausted  in  a  few 
days.  The  testimonials  I  have  received  of  its  value  and  useful- 
ness are  numerous  and  remarkable.     One  that  pleased  me  ex- 


286  SAMUEL   IREX/tUS    i'RI.ME. 

ceedingly  was  a  note  from  Rev.  Prof.  Moses  Coit  Tyler,  a  scholar 
deeply  versed  in  English  ballad  literature.  He  was  at  the  time 
he  wrote  editing  a  newspaper,  and  he  says :  '  I  thank  you  for 
the  great  satisfaction  which  your  book  has  given  me.  It  is  a 
monument  of  wide  and  varied  research,  of  judicious  and  tasteful 
selection,  and  I  believe  that  it  is  destined  to  be  a  comfort  and  a 
manifold  spiritual  blessing  to  multitudes  of  hearts.' 

"  In  the  spring  of  1873,  before  I  took  possession  of  my  house 
in  Thirty-ninth  Street,  I  was  conscious  of  failing  strength,  and 
as  the  General  Conference  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  was  ap- 
pointed to  be  held  in  the  autumn,  and  large  responsibilities  were 
devohed  upon  me  in  relation  to  it,  I  determined  to  suspentl  for 
a  time  my  work  on  the  life  of  Morse.  But  the  work  was  merely 
transferred  to  another  department,  for  the  preparations  for  the 
coming  conference  were  to  be  made  and  required  an  immense 
amount  of  time.  Returning  to  my  duties  September  i,  I  was 
soon  absorbed  in  the  arrangements  for  the  conference  to  begin 
in  October.  This  was  the  most  important  work  that  I  ever  per- 
formed outside  of  my  editorial  labors.  As  soon  as  I  had  rested 
a  little  from  the  excitement  and  fatigue  of  the  conference  work, 
I  resumed  my  labors  on  the  life  of  Morse,  and  pursued  them 
daily  and  systematically  through  the  winter.  Early  in  the  spring 
I  began  to  put  copy  into  the  hands  of  the  publishers.  Then 
came  daily  proofs  to  be  read,  and  more  copy  to  be  ready,  for 
the  printing  was  begun  before  the  work  of  the  author  was  com- 
pleted. It  was  my  practice  to  read  the  first  proof  carefully  by 
myself;  when  the  revise  came  back  I  read  it  aloud  to  Mrs. 
Prime,  who  took  a  deep  interest  in  my  work  upon  the  biography 
from  the  beginning,  and  stimulated  me  greatly  by  her  encourag- 
ing predictions,  ^^'hen  the  pages  were  cast,  stereotyped,  plate- 
proofs  were  sent  to  me,  and  these  I  examined  with  great  care. 
So  that  I  read  the  whole  three  times  in  proof,  and  parts  of  it  many 
more  times,  as  doubts  arose  that  compelled  inquiry  and  some- 
times alteration.  The  printing  and  corrections  were  not  fin- 
ished until  the  close  of  July,  1874,  and  up  to  that  time  from  the 


RESIDENCE   IN   NEW   YORK   CITY.  28/ 

summer  of  1872  I  had  been,  with  the  interruptions  before-men- 
tioned, incessantly  at  work  upon  the  book.  And  during  these 
two  years  I  had  published  four  other  books  which  had  required 
more  or  less  attention.  One  of  them,  '  Under  the  Trees,'  I 
have  not  referred  to.  In  the  spring  of  1874  I  gathered  a  large 
number  of  my  Letters  in  the  '  Observer,'  and  a  few  other  mis- 
cellanies into  a  volume,  which  Harper  &  Brothers  published.  It 
was  very  kindly  received  by  the  press. 

"  The  Morse  biography  was  in  the  hands  of  the  publisher, 
and  the  author  was  released  from  his  care  of  the  press,  at  the 
close  of  the  month  of  July,  1874.  My  family  had  gone  into  the 
country,  and  I  was  waiting  anxiously  for  the  month  of  August 
to  come,  as  at  that  time  my  summer  vacation  would  begin,  and 
I  never  needed  it  more.  In  the  early  part  of  July  my  mother, 
now  eighty-five  years  old,  and  residing  at  White  Plains,  N.  Y., 
with  my  sister,  Mrs.  Cummings,  was  stricken  with  a  slight  pa- 
ralysis. I  went  to  her  frequently,  and  it  was  apparent  that  she 
was  gradually  nearing  the  end  of  life,  though  weeks,  and  even 
months,  might  yet  be  added.  When  August  came  she  seemed 
to  be  so  comfortable  that  I  was  able  to  make  arrangements  for 
a  month's  travel  in  search  of  refreshing  rest.  Joining  my  wife 
and  daughter  at  Williamstown,  Mass.,  we  went  to  Ballston,  N.  Y., 
but  had  scarcely  reached  there  before  we  received  a  telegram 
that  my  mother  was  sinking  rapidly.  We  hastened  to  the  bed- 
side, and  I  remained  with  her  until  she  died.  Her  last  days, 
like  her  whole  life,  were  peace.  A  woman  of  well-balanced  in- 
tellect, of  placid  temperament,  unwavering  faith  in  God,  happy 
in  her  children,  not  one  of  whom  ever  knowingly  caused  her  a 
moment's  grief,  beloved  and  admired  by  a  host  of  friends,  and 
surrounded  by  every  comfort  her  heart  desired,  she  had  long 
been  quietly  waiting  till  her  change  should  come ;  and  as  day 
by  day  we  saw  that  the  tide  of  life  was  ebbing,  she  said  nothing 
to  indicate  her  own  consciousness  that  death  was  approaching. 
Her  mind  was  clear  and  quiet ;  she  delighted  to  hear  of  Christ, 
and  the  word  of  God  was  precious  in  those  days  to  her  soul. 


288  SA.MLEL    IKEN.ELS    I'RIMK. 

Her  memory  was  specially  vivid  of  early  scenes,  some  of  which 
she  had  never  mentioned  to  us,  and  now  she  recalled  and  de- 
scribed them,  amusing  us  by  their  recital,  and  enjoying  our  en- 
joyment. She  read  with  her  own  eyes  the  daily  newspapers  to 
the  last  weeks  of  her  life,  watching  with  eager  interest  the  pass- 
ing events  of  the  times,  and  when  too  feeble  to  read  she  in- 
quired daily  after  the  progress  of  things  in  the  outer  world.  At 
last  her  mind  fastened  only  upon  the  hymns  of  her  own  child- 
hood ;  and  among  them  the  cradle  hymn,  *  Hush,  my  dear,  lie 
still  and  slumber,'  of  Dr.  Watts,  was  often  read  to  her,  while  she 
expressed  her  delight.  She  said  to  me,  '  Just  forget  it  is  writ- 
ten for  children,  and  how  grand  and  beautiful  it  is  ! ' 

"  She  had  a  rare  sense  of  the  humorous,  and  long  after  her 
own  muscles  had  become  so  fixed  that  she  could  not  readily 
change  the  expression  of  her  face,  she  would  make  us  smile, 
and  sometimes  laugh,  by  her  wit. 

'"On  the  morning  of  Aug.  24,  1875,  wc  all  gathered  about 
her,  for  it  was  very  apparent  that  she  was  in  the  last  moments 
of  her  long  and  lovely  life.  She  probably  could  not  see  us 
thougli  her  eyes  were  open.  I  held  her  hand,  now  cold,  and 
as  she  said,  '  Lay  me  down,'  I  thought  she  wanted  me  to  ar- 
range her  pillows,  but  she  continued  to  repeat  the  words,  and 
it  was  evident  she  was  saying,  '  Now  I  lay  me  down  to  sleep.' 
She  said  it  two  or  three  times,  and  then  put  her  tongue  to  her 
lips  as  if  trying  to  say  the  words,  but  no  sound  came  forth. 
She  closed  her  eyes,  pressing  them  closely  shut,  and  ceased  to 
breathe. 

"  At  the  funeral  an  address  was  made  by  my  son-in-law.  Rev. 
Charles  A.  Stoddard,  D.I).,  which  gave  a  faithful  and  beautiful 
sketch  of  the  life  and  character  of  the  best  of  mothers." 


RESIDENCE   IN   NEW   YORK   CITY.  2 89 


THE    EVANGELICAL   ALLIANCE. 

Dr.  Prime  was  ardently  engaged  in  the  Evangelical 
Alliance  as  a  member,  officer,  and  promoter  during 
many  of  his  best  years.  This  interest  and  labor  cul- 
minated in  the  Evangelical  Alliance  Conference,  which 
was  held  in  the  City  of  New  York  during  October,  1873. 
To  this  he  devoted  himself  as  if  he  had  no  other  occu- 
pation.    Among  his  private  papers  is  the  following :  — 

Nov.  I,  1873. 
To  give  my  children  some  idea  of  the  amount  of  labor  which 
I  expended  upon  the  General  Conference  of  1873,  I  recited 
the  following  to  a  stenographer.  S.  L  Prime. 

"  In  the  year  1866,  while  travelling  in  Europe,  I  received  an 
invitation  from  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Evangelical 
Alliance  of  the  United  States  to  attend  the  General  Conference 
which  was  to  be  held  in  Amsterdam.  At  the  same  time  I  was 
requested  by  the  British  organization  to  attend  and  represent 
the  United  States  at  that  meeting.  In  consequence  of  the 
prevalence  of  the  cholera  the  proposed  meeting  vvas  postponed 
until  August,  1867,  at  which  time,  in  company  with  my  son,  the 
Rev.  Wendell  Prime,  I  visited  Amsterdam,  and  spent  ten  days 
in  that  city  attending  the  sessions  of  the  Conference. 

"  Becoming  deeply  interested  in  the  men  whom  I  met  and 
in  the  great  work  of  the  Alliance,  and  obtaining  a  full  view  of 
its  relations  to  the  cause  of  Evangelical  truth  in  Europe  and 
throughout  the  world,  I  returned  home  with  a  determination  to 
do  whatever  was  in  my  power  to  extend  its  influence  as  an 
organization  in  the  United  States. 

"  Upon  my  return  I  was  requested  by  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee of  the  Alliance  here  to  make  a  report  of  the  proceedings 
of  the  Alliance  at  Amsterdam,  which  I  delivered  at  a  meeting 

19 


296  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

held  in  the  Madison  Square  Presbyterian  Church,  in  October, 
1867. 

"At  the  Amsterdam  Conference  I  presented  a  paper  on  'The 
State  of  Religion  in  the  United  States,'  which  had  been  pre- 
pared by  Professor  H.  B.  Smith,  of  the  Union  Theological 
Seminary,  New  York,  he  being  unable  to  attend  the  Conference 
and  present  it  in  person.  This  paper  closed  with  an  invitation 
from  the  United  States  Branch  to  the  General  Conference  to 
hold  its  next  session  in  the  City  of  New  York.  A  consultation 
was  held  on  the  subject,  and  it  was  resolved  in  Amsterdam  to 
refer  the  subject  to  the  United  States  Branch  for  correspondence 
with  the  other  branches  throughout  the  world,  and  if  it  should 
be  deemed  advisable  after  such  consultation,  that  the  Conference 
should  be  held  in  New  York. 

"After  much  correspondence  it  was  decided  to  hold  the 
Conference  in  New  York  City  in  1870.  The  Rev.  Dr.  Philip 
Schaff,  who  was  one  of  the  earliest  promoters  of  the  Evangelical 
Alliance  in  this  country,  and  in  whose  study  the  United  States 
Branch  was  revived  in  the  year  1865,  after  having  been  in  a 
state  of  inaction  for  several  years,  was  associated  with  me  as  the 
Secretary  of  the  United  States  Alliance.  He  had  charge  of  the 
correspondence  with  the  foreign  delegates,  while  I  was  conduct- 
ing that  with  those  who  had  been  invited  in  our  own  country. 
Elaborate  preparations  were  made  during  the  early  part  of  the 
year  for  the  great  assembly,  to  be  followed  by  great  disappoint- 
ment ;  for  the  disturbed  condition  of  Euroi)e  made  it  impractica- 
ble to  secure  the  attendance  of  foreign  delegates.  After  two 
years,  preparations  were  resumed  to  hold  the  Conference  in 

1873- 

"  Dr.  Schaff  again  went  abroad  and  conferred  with  the  gentle- 
men who  had  previously  been  invited.  If  they  were  unable  to 
come,  he  was  to  invite  others,  and  by  all  means  to  secure  the 
attendance  of  men  of  influence,  learning,  and  position. 

"In  the  spring  of  1873,  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
United  States  Branch  appointed  a  large  Committee  of  Arrange- 


RESIDENCE   IN   NEW   YORK   CITY.  29 1 

ments.  Rev.  Dr.  Howard  Crosby,  who  had  held  the  position  of 
chairman  in  the  year  1870,  now  decHned  on  account  of  his 
health.  Dr.  Nathan  Bishop,  who  was  requested  to  take  the 
place,  declined  on  account  of  the  pressure  of  his  public  duties. 
Mr.  Norman  White  and  others  were  also  urged  to  take  it,  but 
also  declined.  Finding  it  impracticable  to  obtain  the  services 
of  any  other  person  for  this  place,  I  was  finally  obliged  to  under- 
take the  responsibility  of  it  in  addition  to  the  other  duties  which 
were  imposed  upon  me  in  consequence  of  my  long  connection 
with  the  Alliance. 

"Association  Hall  was  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Alli- 
ance, and  the  three  nearest  churches  —  the  Fourth  Avenue 
Presbyterian  Church,  St.  Paul's  M.  E.  Church,  and  the  Madison 
Square  Presbyterian  —  were  all  secured,  to  be  open  at  all  times 
during  the  sessions  of  the  Conference  for  use  at  such  periods  as 
they  should  be  required. 

"  I  spent  the  month  of  August  in  necessary  relaxation  at 
the  seaside,  having  been  greatly  exhausted  by  my  labors  in 
connection  with  my  daily  work,  increased  by  the  needful  prep- 
arations for  the  Conference,  and  greatly  aggravated  by  the 
domestic  sorrow  which  came  upon  me  in  the  death  of  Helen 
Lefferts  Prime  at  Newburgh,  on  the  Hudson,  the  wife  of  my 
son  Wendell. 

"  These  weeks  of  anxiety  and  care  and  labor  had  thoroughly 
worn  me  out ;  and  I  sought  with  diligence  to  recruit  my  health 
in  order  that  I  might  with  some  degree  of  strength  enter  upon 
still  more  exhausting  labors  which  were  evidently  before  me. 

"  Returning  on  the  first  of  September  to  New  York,  and  re- 
suming my  labors  in  the  office  of  the  'Observer,'  and  also  in 
the  office  of  the  Alliance,  I  called  the  various  committees  to- 
gether immediately,  and  entered  more  seriously  than  ever  upon 
the  final  preparations  for  the  Conference. 

"The  Programme  Committee  were  in  session  every  week, 
and  oftentimes  several  times  a  week.  Their  duties  were  ex- 
ceedingly onerous  and  oftentimes  complicated  and  harassing. 


292  SAMUEL   IREN.^iUS    PRIME. 

"  Dr.  Schaff  was  still  absent  in  Europe,  returning  the  week 
prior  to  the  assembling  of  the  Conference. 

"  We  were  in  constant  receipt  of  intelligence  that  made 
changes  necessary  in  the  programme. 

"  Death  invaded  the  number  of  those  who  were  to  be  present 
and  assist.  Some  of  the  most  distinguished  men  cancelled 
their  engagements.  Sudden  sickness  fell  upon  some  of  them, 
and  the  duties  of  others  were  found  incompatible  with  their  at- 
tendance. It  was  necessary  to  fill  the  places  of  those  by  new 
selections ;  and  the  correspondence  with  them  involved  a  great 
amount  of  labor. 

"The  various  sub-committees  of  the  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments, and  the  Executive  Committee,  held  meetings  which  re- 
quired my  attendance  daily,  and  sometimes  two  or  three  times 
a  day,  and  in  different  parts  of  the  city ;  so  that  my  whole  time 
that  I  could  spare  from  the  duties  of  my  own  office  was  occupied 
with  these  distracting  and  anxious  labors. 

"  It  was  proposed,  for  the  purpose  of  securing  additional 
funds  to  pay  the  expenses  of  the  meeting,  that  reserved  seats  in 
the  Association  Hall  should  be  sold  at  ten  dollars  each  for  the 
entire  session.  When  these  seats  were  advertised  the  rush  to 
secure  them  was  so  great  that  we  at  once  perceived  that  the 
Conference  had  taken  a  strong  hold  upon  the  public  mind. 
The  applications  for  scats  were  so  many  that  it  became  neces- 
sary for  us,  after  the  number  of  400  were  sold  (to  which  num- 
ber we  were  limited)  to  print  a  circular  to  send  back  with  tiie 
money  that  came  from  all  jjarts  of  the  country,  even  from  dis- 
tant places,  from  persons  who  were  desirous  of  securing  seats 
that  they  might  enjoy  the  entire  session  of  the  Conference.  But 
the  avidity  of  the  public  was  still  more  manifest  when  the  hour 
for  the  opening  reception  arrived.  Long  before  the  time  for  the 
admission  of  the  guests  the  crowd  at  the  door  of  the  Association 
Hall  extended  into  the  street,  and  the  most  intense  anxiety 
prevailed  on  the  part  of  the  people  to  secure  an  early  admission. 
The  doors  were  thrown  open,  and  the  whole  building,  which 


RESIDENCE   IN   NEW   YORK   CITY.  293 

had  been  beautifully  decorated  and  lighted  for  the  occasion,  the 
parlors,  and  reading  rooms  were  instantly  filled,  and  the  pressure 
was  so  great  that  it  was  scarcely  possible  to  move  from  room  to 
room. 

"  After  an  hour  or  two  spent  in  such  social  intercourse  as  was 
possible  under  the  circumstances  the  foreign  delegates  were  in- 
vited into  the  audience  hall  and  seated  in  reserved  seats  in  the 
centre  of  the  room. 

"  After  they  were  seated  the  doors  were  thrown  open  and  the 
multitude  admitted,  thronging  every  part  of  the  hall,  and  every 
available  place  for  sitting  and  standing  being  immediately  filled. 
The  address  of  welcome  was  then  given  by  Dr.  Adams,  after 
suitable  devotional  exercises,  and  responses  were  made  by  many 
of  the  foreign  delegates,  one  from  almost  every  country  that  was 
represented  on  the  occasion.  These  exercises  were  continued 
until  half-past  ten  o'clock,  when  the  crowd  dispersed,  having 
enjoyed  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  meetings  that  had  ever 
been  held  in  the  City  of  New  York. 

"  I  had  'fondly  hoped  that  my  responsibilities  were  now  at  an 
end,  and  that  the  Conference  being  successfully  launched  I 
might  be  relieved  from  any  further  exhausting  duties  ;  but  the 
Committee  on  the  Programme,  to  whom  was  confided  the  duty 
of  selecting  the  officers  of  the  Conference,  had  imposed  upon 
me  the  office  of  General  Secretary  of  the  Conference,  and 
against  ray  most  earnest  remonstrances  they  insisted  that  the 
time  and  labor  that  I  had  expended  in  planning  the  Conference 
made  it  essential  that  I  should  now  continue  my  efforts  and  see 
that  these  arrangements  were  successfully  carried  out.  On  the 
following  morning,  October  2,  the  Conference  was  opened  in 
Steinway  Hall,  which  was  filled  to  overflowing,  and  thousands  of 
people  unable  to  obtain  admittance  were  compelled  to  retire. 
I  was  elected  General  Secretary,  and  at  once  assumed  the  re- 
sponsibility of  the  direction  of  the  exercises,  which  were  to  be 
carried  out  in  large  part  according  to  the  programme  which  had 
been  previously  prepared. 


294  SAMUEL   IREN.KUS    PRIME. 

"  Returning  to  Association  Hall  for  the  exercises  on  the  after- 
noon of  the  following  day,  it  was  very  soon  discovered  that  the 
building  would  be  inadequate  to  hold  the  concourse  of  people 
who  thronged  its  courts.  Happily,  we  had  made  arrangements 
for  the  use  of  the  adjoining  churches,  and  these  were  immedi- 
ately thrown  open ;  and  the  Committee  on  the  Programme, 
meeting  every  day,  divided  the  original  programme  into-  sec- 
tions, —  assigning  sections  to  two  and  sometimes  three  churches, 
besides  the  Association  Hall,  to  accommodate  the  people  who 
wished  to  hear ;  and  also  to  get  through  the  programme  in 
the  number  of  days  which  had  been  set  apart  for  the 
Conference. 

"  But  this  separation  into  divers  meetings  made  the  labors  of 
the  Executive  Officers  far  greater,  and  required  constant  watch- 
fulness and  anxiety  in  order  that  all  might  be  carried  on  with- 
out confusion  or  failure.  It  was  necessary  to  see  that  each 
meeting  was  properly  organized ;  that  the  speakers  who  were 
assigned  to  each  place  were  informed  of  the  place  in  which  they 
were  to  speak,  and  the  hour ;  and  that  tlie  necessary  officers 
were  on  hand  to  conduct  the  meetings. 

"  The  public  excitement  was  greatly  increased  by  tlie  full  and 
graphic  reports  which  were  made  by  the  daily  press,  and  became 
so  great  that  all  the  houses  which  were  open  for  the  meetings 
were  filled  to  overflowing.  Especially  was  this  the  case  at  the 
evening  meetings,  when  the  addresses  were  to  be  of  a  popular 
character,  and  when  more  people  were  released  from  the  claims 
of  business  and  were  able  to  attend.  But  through  the  days 
there  was  no  abatement  whatever  of  the  interest  on  the  part 
of  the  people. 

"  The  delegates  from  abroad  participated  in  the  general  ex- 
citement. They  were  filled  with  astonishment  when  they  saw 
the  vast  multitudes  flocking  from  day  to  day  and  night  after 
night  to  attend  u])on  these  religious  exercises,  which  gave  them 
new  ideas  in  regard  to  the  power  of  evangelical  religion  in  the 
United  States.     An  effect  equally  extraordinary  was  produced 


RESIDENCE   IN   NEW   YORK   CITY.  295 

upon  the  outside  world.  Those  who  did  not  sympathize  with 
the  objects  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  showed  that  they  too 
were  astonished  by  the  great  enthusiasm  and  manifest  power  of 
the  convention. 

"  In  the  whole  course  of  my  own  public  labors  and  private 
studies  no  occasion  had  ever  required  so  intense  and  protracted 
a  strain  upon  my  nervous  system  as  these  successive  meetings 
following  upon  a  long  season  of  preparatory  labors.  It  was 
necessary  for  me,  rising  early  in  the  morning,  to  lay  out  the 
several  duties  to  be  done  during  the  day,  writing  them  out  in 
order  that  I  might  be  able  systematically  to  carry  them  into 
effect. 

"  To  plunge  into  the  labors  without  a  perfect  system  would 
involve  confusion  and  at  once  endanger  the  success  of  the  day ; 
but  by  a  careful  classing  of  the  work  to  be  done,  and  the  ar- 
rangements by  which  it  was  to  be  accomplished,  I  was  enabled 
with  some  degree  of  efficiency  to  get  on  with  the  work.  All 
these  several  meetings  were  to  be  provided  for,  and  oftentimes 
very  suddelily  and  with  \-ery  scanty  material.  Sometimes  when 
we  supposed  that  everything  was  going  on  successfully,  I  would 
receive  information  that  the  crowd  upon  the  outside  had  become 
so  great  that  an  additional  church  had  been  opened,  and  was 
now  filled  with  people  waiting  for  speakers.  It  was  necessary  to 
instantly  find  the  men  who  would  go  and  instruct  the  expectant 
multitudes.  But  these  labors  would  have  been  comparatively 
slight,  and  would  have  required  no  great  expenditure  of  nervous 
force  had  it  not  been  for  the  constant  perplexities  and  vexations 
to  which  I  was  subjected  by  the  unreasonableness  of  good  men. 
The  infirmities  of  human  nature  were  manifested  on  such  occa- 
sions with  great  frequency  and  force.  Hundreds  of  men 
came  to  the  convention  and  expected  to  obtain  admission  as 
delegates  who  had  no  claim  whatever  to  admission,  not  being 
accredited  from  any  branch  of  the  Alliance  or  from  any  associ- 
ation that  had  the  slightest  claims  to  a  representation  in  the 
Conference, 


296  SAMUEL   IREN.^US    PRIMH. 

"  These  good  men  were  greatly  disappointed  on  finding  them- 
selves necessarily  excluded  by  the  terms  of  the  constitution, 
which  did  not  recognize  delegates  from  any  other  source  than 
auxiliary  or  branch  Alliances  in  different  parts  of  the  countr)',  or 
from  foreign  lands.  They  were,  however,  very  generally  admit- 
ted to  seats  on  the  floor  of  the  Conference,  that  they  might  have 
the  same  opportunities  of  enjoying  the  Conference  which  the 
delegates  themselves  possessed.  This,  however,  only  led  to 
new  complications ;  for,  whenever  privileges  and  invitations 
were  extended  to  the  Conference,  these  men  claimed  the  right 
of  accepting  and  enjoying  them  all.  Innumerable  and  inevita- 
ble annoyances  of  this  kind  added  to  the  friction  and  strain. 
But  the  relief  of  mind  after  the  success  of  the  Conference  was 
assured  was  so  great  that  I  pursued  these  severe  labors  with 
a  great  degree  of  enjoyment ;  notwithstanding  all  the  troubles 
with  which  they  were  attended. 

"  I  had  for  so  many  months  and  years  been  anticipating  with 
intense  desire  and  anxiety  the  coming  of  the  Conference,  and 
had  so  often  feared  because  of  the  apathy  of  the  Church  on  the 
subject  that  it  would  be  a  failure,  that  when  its  success  was 
assured,  and  especially  when  it  became  not  only  a  success,  but 
a  triumph  of  evangelical  religion,  I  felt  not  only  amply  repaid 
for  all  the  labor  involved,  but  exceedingly  happy  in  the  con- 
sciousness of  having  been  able  to  contribute  something  to  that 
success.  Instead  of  sinking  down  under  these  labors  during  the 
Conference  my  health  improved  day  by  day ;  and  at  the  close 
of  the  series  of  meetings,  and  for  successive  days  afterwards  I 
continued  in  the  enjoyment  of  the  same  state  of  health  that 
I  had  been  in  previous  to  the  meetings.  I  am  not  aware 
that  I  lost  the  rest  of  a  single  night  at  any  time  during  or  after 
the  Conference,  or  that  I  experienced  the  slightest  inconven- 
ience in  health  as  the  result  of  the  labors  which  were  devolved 
upon  me. 

"  In  this  I  found  a  most  abundant  cause  for  gratitude  to  God. 
Tn  the  sixty-first  year  of  my  age,  at  a  period  of  life  when  only 


RESIDENCE   IN   NEW   YORK   CITY,  297 

most  happy  to  be  excused  from  the  responsibilities  of  such 
labors  as  properly  belonged  to  younger  men,  I  had  been  able  to 
carry  out  a  series  of  meetings  which  in  their  influence,  their  pop- 
ularity, and  the  enjoyment  which  they  gave  to  the  multitudes 
which  attended  them  may  justly  be  regarded  as  among  the  most 
important  and  valuable  which  have  ever  been  held  in  this 
country." 


Part  Mftih 

PERSONAL    ASSOCIATIONS. 


part  JTtft!). 

PERSONAL  ASSOCIATIONS. 

AMONG  the  vast  variety  of  topics  treated  by 
"  Irenaeus  "  in  his  "  Letters,"  none  gave  greater 
satisfaction  than  his  biographical  sketches  of  great  and 
good  men  with  whom  he  hved  in  close  personal  rela- 
tions. These  are  so  numerous  that  they  would  form 
a  volume  by  themselves.  We  can  give  but  a  few  of 
these  sketches  relating  to  men  representing  widely  dif- 
ferent spheres  of  faith  and  work, 

THE   REV.   WILLIAM    ADAMS,  D.D., 

who  died  Aug.  31,   1880,  was  thus  commemorated  by 
"  Irenaeus :  " 

"When  he  contemplated  the  resignation  of  his  pas- 
toral charge  on  Madison  Square  to  accept  the  presi- 
dency of  the  Theological  Seminary,  he  was  doubtful  as 
to  the  line  of  his  duty,  and  sent  for  friends  to  counsel 
on  the  great  and  difficult  question.  It  was  not  for  me  to 
advise  such  a  man ;  but  when  he  would  have  an  opinion, 
I  could  only  say:  'It  is  quite  probable  that  you  are 
called  of  God  to  be  the  president  of  the  Seminary,  but 
it  is  not  necessary  that  you  retire  from  the  Madison 
Square  pulpit.  A  colleague  or  assistant  may  supply 
your  lack  of  service,  when  you  assume  other  labors; 
but  such  a  life  as  yours  will  be  rounded  and  complete 


302  SAMUEL   IREN.^iUS    I'RIME. 

when  you  die  in  the  highest  office  on  earth,  —  that  of 
a  Christian  Pastor.' 

"  He  resigned  from  a  sense  of  duty  to  the  people, 
when  he  decided  to  take  the  chair,  and  it  is  to  be  pre- 
sumed he  did  not  regret  the  decision.  With  the  Apos- 
tle he  could  always  say,  '  This  one  thing  I  do;  '  and  he 
often  spoke  in  private  to  me  in  terms  of  high  commen- 
dation of  those  men  who  spend  their  time  and  strength 
in  the  work  to  which  they  are  called,  declining  to  divert 
their  minds  or  employ  their  powers  in  extra  labors,  how- 
ever useful  and  important  they  may  be. 

"  He  was  invited  to  take  part  in  the  centennial  cele- 
bration of  the  Battle  of  Lexington,  where  the  first  blow 
of  the  American  Revolution  was  struck,  and  the  shot 
was  fired  that  was  heard  around  the  world.  He  invited 
me  to  go  with  him,  to  be  the  guest  of  his  brother-in-law, 
Mr.  Magoun,  in  Medford,  near  to  Lexington.  It  so 
happened  that  I  had  at  that  time  the  pistol  from  which 
that  shot  was  fired,  —  the  pistol  that  Major  Pitcairn  dis- 
charged when  he  gave  the  first  order  to  British  soldiers 
to  fire  on  the  Americans.  Armed  with  this  pistol  and 
its  twin,  I  joined  Dr.  Adams  and  went  to  the  battle-field. 
But  there  was  no  fighting  now.  Those  three  days  of 
social  life  with  him  and  his  friends  were  ideal  days.  He 
loved  to  take  me  to  houses  and  hills  and  churches  in  that 
region  where  his  youth  and  his  young  ministry  were 
spent ;  where  he  first  loved  and  was  married ;  he  lived 
over  the  scenes  of  early  manhood,  when  life  was  all 
before  him  and  hopes  of  usefulness  were  high.  He 
was  young  again.  With  his  children  and  theirs  around 
him,  and  a  thousand  sweet  associations,  every  moment 
his  loving  nature  awoke  as  in  the  morning  of  spring, 
and  he  was  fresh,  buoyant,  and  cheerful,  as   if  he  was 


PERSONAL   ASSOCIATIONS.  303 

on  the  verge  of  thirty,  and  not  of  three  score  and 
ten. 

"  We  were  very  desirous  to  have  him  go  to  Edinburgh 
to  the  General  Council  in  1877,  and  it  was  with  the 
greatest  reluctance  that  he  yielded  to  the  pressing  solici- 
tations of  his  brethren.  He  did  not  like  to  go  away 
from  home.  And  when  he  reached  London  he  was 
thoroughly  homesick.  He  came  from  the  hotel  where 
he  was  in  the  midst  of  friends,  and  sought  for  rooms  in 
the  private  lodgings  I  was  enjoying.  Here  he  met  my 
daughters,  and  when  he  gave  them  each  a  paternal  kiss, 
he  said,  '  There,  that 's  the  first  thing  like  home  I  have 
had  since  I  came  away.'  He  said  he  longed  to  go  back, 
and  his  eyes  were  full  of  tears  as  he  spoke.  It  was  won- 
derful to  see  a  stately,  dignified,  elegant  old  man,  full  of 
honors  and  friends,  whom  every  one  was  proud  to  wel- 
come and  entertain,  so  child-like  and  simple,  so  full  of 
affection  for  those  he  had  left  behind  that  his  care  now 
was  to  get  back  again  as  soon  as  he  could. 

"  In  Edinburgh  it  was  my  lot  to  be  attacked  with  ill- 
ness at  the  house  of  my  kind  friend.  Rev.  Dr.  W.  G. 
Blaikie.  The  anxiety  of  Dr.  Adams,  his  sympathy,  his 
tenderness,  his  attentions,  were  those  of  an  elder  brother 
or  parent.  He  has  told  me  since  that  his  fears  were 
great  that  I  would  not  recover.  This  apprehension  was 
the  result  of  his  own  great  depression  of  spirits,  for  it 
was  not  shared  by  any  one  else.  But  it  brought  out  the 
exceeding  love  of  his  heart,  his  overflowing  sympathy, 
and  it  endeared  him  to  mc  more  tenderly  than  ever. 
How  proud  of  him  we  all  were  at  that  great  council  01 
men  from  all  lands !  If  there  was  one  in  that  assembly 
of  divines  of  loftier  and  nobler  mien  than  Dr.  Adams,  I 
did  not  see  him. 


304  SAMUKL   IREN.EUS    PRIME. 

"  Some  days  after  the  Council  was  dissolved  I  was 
travelling  from  London  to  F"olkestone,  on  my  way  to 
Paris.  Into  the  same  compartment  on  the  rail-car  came 
an  English  gentleman,  whose  servant  in  livery  stowed 
away  his  travel-impediments  and  retired.  The  stranger, 
a  fine-looking  man,  of  courtly  manners  and  address, 
very  soon  began  to  converse  with  me  in  the  manner 
said  to  be  peculiar  to  my  countrymen.  He  put  ques- 
tions to  me.  Having  ascertained  that  I  was  an  Ameri- 
can traveller,  and  from  New  York,  he  said  to  me,  '  Are 
you  acquainted  with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Adams?'  When 
he  learned  that  Dr.  Adams  was  a  valued  friend  of  mine, 
he  went  on  to  say :  '  What  a  splendid  specimen  of 
the  Christian  gentleman  he  is !  I  had  the  pleasure  of 
meeting  him  in  London  but  a  few  days  ago,  and  to  pre- 
sent him  to  Mr.  Gladstone,  who  was  charmed  with  him, 
and  expressed  to  me  privately  his  admiration  of  the 
American  scholar  and  divine.' 

"  I  did  not  learn  my  travelling  companion's  name 
until  I  related  the  incident  to  Dr.  Adams,  who  recalled 
him  at  once. 

"  When  the  appeal  came  to  Christians  in  America  to 
send  a  deputation  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia  to  ask  lib- 
erty of  worship  for  dissenters  in  the  Baltic  provinces  of 
his  empire,  we  held  a  meeting  of  the  Evangelical  Alli- 
ance, and  it  was  easily  resolved  that  such  a  deputation 
was  to  be  desired ;  but  as  the  men  must  go  at  their  own 
charges,  over  the  ocean  and  the  continent,  where  were 
the  men  to  be  found?  In  the  silence  that  ensued,  Dr. 
Adams  came  across  the  room  and  whispered  in  my  ear, 
'  I  will  go.'  I  presume  it  was  the  only  time  he  ever 
nominated  himself.  But  the  service  was  not  one  to  be 
sought,  and  volunteers  were  not  to  be  found.     He  was 


PERSUiXAL   ASSUCIATIONS.  305 

appointed  at  once,  others  followed;  the  deputation  was 
filled ;  it  went  on  its  mission,  and  God  gave  it  great 
success. 

"His  benevolence  was  only  equalled  by  his  facility  for 
leading  others  to  be  generous.  They  relied  so  justly  on 
his  judgment  that  they  gave  with  confidence  and  pleas- 
ure when  he  endorsed  the  object.  And  the  amounts  of 
money  given  by  his  friends  to  charitable  objects  at  his 
indication  can  never  now  be  added  up ;  but  if  they 
could,  the  sum  would  be  enormous  and  astonishing.  A 
foreign  missionary  lost  the  sum  of  three  thousand  dol- 
lars, and  Dr.  Adams  said  to  me :  '  Let  us  make  it  up 
to  him  for  the  benefit  of  his  children.  You  raise  one 
thousand  and  I  will  raise  two.'  He  easily  got  his  be- 
fore I  got  mine,  but  it  was  all  obtained  and  is  now 
bearing  fruit. 

"  I  am  very  sorry  that  I  cannot  lay  my  hand  on  his 
playful  note,  in  February,  1876,  asking  me  to  come  and 
dine  with  some  young  friends  and  help  keep  them  in 
order.  Among  the  guests  at  that  memorable  dinner, 
there  was  no  one,  except  Dr.  Calhoun,  missionary  from 
Mount  Lebanon,  and  myself,  less  than  fourscore  years 
of  age.  Four  of  them  preceded  Dr.  Adams  to  the 
eternal  state.  With  what  graceful  dignity,  charming 
simplicity  and  ease,  he  sat  at  the  head  of  his  hos- 
pitable table  on  that  occasion,  —  drawing  each  one 
out  according  to  his  measure  and  manner,  and  filling 
up  every  pause  with  his  own  ready  anecdote  and 
reminiscence. 

"  Only  last  May  I  received  from  Dr.  Adams  a  letter 
answering  some  inquiries,  in  which  he  writes  of  Dr. 
Muhlenberg  and  the  dinner  to  which  reference  is  made 
above.     He  says  :  — 


306  SAMUEL   IREN/KUS    PRIME. 

I  was  expecting  a  visit  at  that  time  from  a  relative  in  Con- 
necticut, more  than  ninety  years  of  age,  who  at  this  xery  time 
is  more  elastic  than  I  am. 

It  so  happened  that  a  few  days  before  I  had  received  a  very 
pleasant  letter  from  the  late  Richard  H.  Dana,  then  past  ninety, 
containing  a  very  pleasant  message  from  Bryant,  so  that  I  played 
the  part  of  hyphen  between  the  two  great  poets. 

I  have  been  reading  this  evening  the  life  of  Dr.  Muhlenberg, 
and  have  been  melted  into  tenderness  by  many  of  its  incidents. 
He  was  a  veritable  saint,  with  nothing  of  asceticism  about  him  ; 
he  knew  the  greatness  and  the  blessedness  of  self-subjection  for 
the  good  of  others.  He  was  truly  catholic  in  spirit,  while  cor- 
dially attached  to  his  own  church.  His  taste  was  gratified  by 
its  forms  of  worship  and  by  the  right  observance  of  its  calendar. 
He  left  his  ideal  of  representative  communion  as  a  legacy  with 

me  and to  be  carried  into  execution,  and  I  am  reproached 

when  looking  upon   his  sweet  and  beautiful  face,  because   I 
have  been  forgetful  of  the  trust.     More  of  this  hereafter. 

I  hope  I  shall  be  made  better  by  my  renew-ed  intercourse 
with  Dr.  Muhlenberg  in  the  pages  of  this  work. 

Cordially  yours, 

W.  Ad.\ms. 

"When  Dr.  Adams  had  retired  from  the  pulpit,  and 
his  successor  was  settled,  I  made  a  sketch,  beginning 
with  this  illustration :  '  If  you  would  know  what  space 
you  fill  in  the  world,  thread  a  cambric  needle,  drop  the 
needle  into  the  sea,  draw  it  out  again,  and  see  the  hole 
that  is  left.     That's  you.' 

"The  next  week  after  the  notice  was  in  print  he  met 
me  with  his  bright  and  loving  smile  and  said  :  '  I  get 
letters  telling  mc  I  am  only  a  cambric  needle  in  the 
water,   after   all.' 

"  Ah,  me  !  the  simile  now  seems  worse  than  a  mockerx'. 
The  city,  the  Seminary,  the  church  at  large,  and  Dr. 


PERSONAL   ASSOCIATIONS.  30/ 

Adams  not  there.  The  vacancy  is  great.  It  will  be 
years  many  before  it  is  filled.  Israel  has  chariots  and 
horsemen,  but  where  is  the  man  like  him  who  stood  at 
the  head  of  the  host?  " 


THE  REV.  WILLIAM  AUGUSTUS  MUHLENBERG,  D.D. 

Among  other  recollections  of  this  divine,  Dr.  Prime 
wrote  as  follows  :  — 

"  He  is  (not  was,  for  such  as  he  live  long  after  they 
are  buried)  a  living  illustration  of  the  fact  that  a  man 
may  be  in  the  world  and  not  of  it ;  above  it  while  he  is 
in  it;  a  godly  man  of  action  and  business,  as  well  as  of 
prayer  and  faith.  In  him  was  no  guile.  He  would 
suffer  wrong  rather  than  do  wrong.  He  was  not  origi- 
nal ;   he  had  a  pattern,  and  that  pattern  was  Christ. 

"  Dr.  M>uhlenberg  was  not  one  of  your  softly,  untem- 
pered,  half-baked  men,  afraid  to  speak  out  and  say  what 
he  felt.  He  went  one  day  to  the  office  of  a  rich  friend 
to  ask  him,  as  landlord,  to  release  a  poor  woman  from 
her  rent,  which  was  due.  Failing,  he  begged  for  a 
small  donation  for  the  widow,  which  was  also  refused. 
Then  he  berated  his  friend  in  good  set  terms,  adding : 
'  I  would  rather  take  my  chance  for  heaven  with  the 
meanest  beggar  in  New  York  than  with  you.'  It  gratifies 
one's  depravity  to  know  that  the  very  best  men  do  and 
say  things  that  %ve  are  chided  for  when  human  nature 
asserts  itself  in  honest  rebuke  of  wrong. 

"  I  would  not  make  a  private  party,  however  pleasant, 
distinguished,  and  memorable,  the  subject  of  public  re- 
mark, but  finding  a  reference  to  it  in  his  memoir,  I  may. 
It  was  one  of  those  episodes  in  life  that  old  men  enjoy 


308  SAMUEL    IREN/EUS    PRIME. 

with  a  fla\'or  which  j'outh  docs  not  know.  For  old  age 
has  its  pleasures,  as  Cicero  and  other  wise  and  great 
men  have  found.  Of  this  venerable  company  I  was 
made  one,  on  account  of  my  youth,  as  the  kind  and 
clever  note  of  invitation  from  the  accomplished  host  — 
himself  a  host  —  very  neatly  intimated.  Mr.  Charles 
H.  Russell  sat  by  the  side  of  Dr.  Adams. 

"  Dr.  Muhlenberg,  Mr.  W.  C.  Bryant,  Mr.  James 
Brown,  Mr.  Peter  Cooper,  Dr.  Calhoun,  of  goodly  Le- 
banon, and  one  more,  composed  the  company. 

"  Dr.  Adams  requested  Dr.  Muhlenberg  to  ask  the 
blessing.  The  patriarch  complied  in  these  rhythmical 
words :  — 

'  Solemn  thanks  be  our  grace  for  the  years  that  are  past, 
With  their  blessings  untold;  and  though  this  be  our  last, 
Yet  joyful  our  trust  that  through  Christ  it  be  given 
All  here  meet  again  at  his  table  in  heaven.' 

"  It  was  very  natural  that  we  should  pass  from  this 
brief  poem  and  prayer  to  others  by  the  same  author, 
and  I  asked  Dr.  Muhlenberg  for  the  correct  reading  of 
a  line  in  his  celebrated  hymn :  — 

'  I  would  not  live  alway.' 

'  It  is  sometimes  printed  "  the  few  lucid  mornings," 
and  again,  "the  few  lurid  mornings."  Which  of  these, 
Doctor,  is  the  true  reading?  ' 

"  '  Either  or  neither,'  he  replied,  with  some  spirit.  '  I 
do  not  bclic\-c  in  the  h}^mn  ;  it  does  not  express  the 
better  feelings  of  the  saint,  and  I  would  not  write  it 
now.' 

"  This  was  a  surprise  to  me,  but  I  was  glad  to  hear 
him  sa\-  so. 


PERSONAL   ASSOCIATIONS.  309 

"  Mr.  Bryant  took  a  very  cheerful  view  of  old  age,  and 
disclaimed  any  feelings  of  depression  or  infirmity  with 
the  advance  of  life.  When  some  pleasantry  enlivened 
the  table,  Mr.  Brown,  who  sat  next  to  me,  and  was 
somewhat  hard  of  hearing,  looked  up  deploringly,  and 
said :  — 

"  '  You  don't  know  how  much  I  lose  by  being  deaf.' 

"  '  Ay,  Mr.  Brown,'  I  replied,  '  and  you  don't  know 
how  much  you  gain.' 

"  Of  those  six  guests,  four  have  put  on  immortality. 
Dr.  Calhoun  died  a  few  months  afterwards.  Mr.  James 
Brown  followed,  haud  longo  intervallo.  Then  Dr.  Muh- 
lenberg slept  with  his  beloved  in  St.  Johnland.  Mr. 
W.  C.  Bryant  has  his  wish  fulfilled  in  being  buried  in 
June,  among  his  own  flowers  in  Roslyn. 

"  Mr.  Peter  Cooper  I  met  at  the  De  Lesseps  dinner 
the  other  night,  and  his  seat  was  next  to  mine.  It  must 
be  wisdorft,  not  age,  that  puts  me  with  these  venerable 
men.  He  said  to  me,  '  I  am  ninety  years  old,  and  do 
not  feel  the  effects  of  age.' 

"Wonderful  old  man  !  useful  and  honored  to  the  last ; 
undoubtedly  the  *  first  citizen  '  now. 

"  Dr.  Muhlenberg  loved  Dr.  Adams  tenderly,  which 
is  not  remarkable ;  but  I  find  in  this  volume  an  obser- 
vation by  Dr.  Adams  that  is  characteristic  of  both  him 
and  his  friend.     Dr.  Adams  says :  — 

"  '■  More  than  once  I  have  said  to  my  family,  when  returning 
from  some  interview  with  him  in  which  he  had  honored  me 
with  a  kiss,  that  I  felt  as  if  the  Apostle  John  had  embraced  me 
and  repeated  in  my  ear  some  words  which  had  been  whispered 
to  him  by  the  Master  on  whose  bosom  he  had  leaned  at  the 
Supper.' 


3IO  SAMUEL   IREN-liUS    TKIMK. 

"  When  Dr.  Muhlenberg  rested  from  his  labors,  and 
was  not,  for  God  took  him,  we  fondly  trusted  that  some 
one,  in  his  spirit  and  power,  would  take  up  the  work 
he  left.  Others  do  perpetuate  the  useful  charities  he 
founded.  But  where  is  the  living  presence  of  the  model 
saint  and  pastor  and  friend?  Who  among  us  now  sanc- 
tifies the  city  by  a  life  of  supernal  beauty  in  its  mephitic 
atmosphere? 

"  Dr.  Muhlenberg  left  a  hoarded  heap  of  gold  behind 
him,  —  two  gold  pieces,  forty  dollars  in  all !  This  was 
his  savings  to  pay  for  his  burial!  All  that  he  had,  ail 
that  he  received,  all  that  he  was,  he  gave  to  Christ  and 
his  friends  while  living,  and  died  leaving  not  enough  to 
pay  the  expenses  of  his  funeral." 


THE    REV.  WILLIAM    R.   WILLIAMS,  D.  D. 

Dr.  Prime's  address  at  the  funeral  of  this  eminent 
divine  and  scholar  is  so  characteristic  of  his  own  style 
and  spirit  that  it  is  given  here  in  full :  — 

"  The  church  mourns  that  a  prince  has  fallen  in  Israel. 
The  city  sorrows  at  the  loss  of  one  of  her  eldest  sons, 
who  has  walked  her  streets  with  spotless  garments  for 
eighty  years,  to  bless  and  adorn  the  place  that  gave  him 
birth,  and  out  of  which  he  has  never  lived.  Learning 
cornes,  with  measured  steps  and  slow,  to  muse  in  sad- 
ness at  the  bier  of  one  who  had  garnered  her  vast  stores 
in  his  capacious  mind  and  had  them  alwaj's  at  his 
command.  Scholarship,  the  handmaid  of  learning,  ap- 
proaches and  with  gracefulness  and  beauty  lays  a  chap- 
let  on  the  marble  brow  of  the  dead  scholar.  All  graces 
that   adorn    humanity,    illumined    and    glorified   by    the 


PERSONAL  ASSOCIATIONS.  3II 

spirit  of  our  divine  religion,  come  to  his  funeral.  Ge- 
nius, taste,  eloquence,  art,  poetry,  philosophy,  history, 
modesty,  meekness,  humility,  whatever  the  human  in- 
tellect, exalted  by  the  grace  of  God,  can  be  and  do, 
each  and  all  take  on  the  form  of  mourners,  and  stand 
with  bowed  and  reverent  heads  around  the  coffin  of  the 
man  who  taught  them  what  to  be  by  what  he  was. 

"  In  the  year  1832,  in  this  city,  a  Christian  church 
assembled  in  a  public  hall.  They  had  as  yet  no  house 
of  worship  of  their  own,  being  a  colony  or  company 
from  the  church  of  which  the  distinguished  Dr.  Cone 
was  pastor.  And  now  they  had  met  to  call  some  one  to 
be  their  minister,  teacher,  and  leader.  One  of  the  eldest 
of  the  congregation,  after  various  names  had  been  dis- 
cussed, arose  and  said,  'Why  should  we  go  abroad  for 
a  pastor  when  there  is  one  of  our  own  number  who  has 
all  the  gifts  that  qualify  a  man  for  such  a  service?'  A 
young  mall  named  William  R.  Williams  here  rose  and 
said,  '  If  we  have  such  a  man  among  us,  let  us  lay 
hands  upon  him.'  The  people  knew  to  whom  the 
speaker  referred,  and  with  one  voice  they  called  him  to 
forsake  the  law  and  preach  to  them  the  gospel.  He  saw 
the  heavenly  vision,  obeyed  the  divine  summons,  became 
the  pastor  of  that  flock,  and  fed  them  with  the  finest  of 
wheat,  and  gave  them  the  richest  wine  to  drink,  for  the 
space  of  fifty-two  years,  till  the  Master  called  him  four 
years  ago  to  join  '  the  song  of  them  that  triumph  and 
the  shout  of  them  that  feast.' 

"Born  in  this  city,  Oct.  14,  1804,  son  of  the  Rev. 
John  Williams,  pastor  of  the  Oliver  Street  Baptist 
Church,  he  was  taught  in  childhood  in  an  academy 
on  Chatham  Square,  hard  by  his  father's  house  of  wor- 
ship.    The  venerable  Dr.  William  Hague,  who  survives 


312  SAMUEL   IREN.i:US    rKIMK. 

his  school-fellow,  relates  that  the  little  shy  lad  surpassed 
all  his  companions  in  the  studies  of  the  school,  as  he 
did  in  Columbia  College,  from  which  he  was  graduated 
with  the  highest  honors  in  1823.  Choosing  the  law  as 
his  profession,  he  studied  with  the  Hon.  Peter  A.  Jay, 
and  practised  with  him  five  years.  After  his  conver- 
sion he  joined  the  church  of  which  his  father  was  pastor, 
who  was  followed  in  the  ministry  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Cone. 
Mr.  Williams  was  active  in  Christian  work,  displaying 
those  rare  endowments  that  attracted  the  attention  of 
his  brethren,  and  led  to  his  being  called  to  lead  them 
into  green  pastures  by  the  side  of  still  waters.  His  con- 
gregation built  a  house  for  God  in  Amity  Street,  near 
Broadwa)',  where  the  gospel  was  proclaimed  for  more 
than  one  generation,  with  a  simplicit}-,  fidelity,  richness, 
and  power  that  no  pulpit  in  the  city  has  ever  surpassed. 
There  sinners  were  converted  and  souls  trained  for 
heaven ;  there  the  missionary  spirit  was  fostered  and 
prevailed;  there  the  Redeemer's  praise  was  sung  by 
multitudes  now  singing  with  the  spirits  of  the  just  made 
perfect.  And  when  the  voice  of  this  great  preacher 
failed  him,  and  his  audience  seemed  to  be  small  because 
he  could  not  be  heard  by  man}',  it  was  said  that  the 
angels  were  wont  to  come  down  and  listen.  I  cannot 
say  how  true  that  is ;  but  this  I  know,  they  would  have 
heard  only  what  was  worth  their  hearing ;  and  the}' 
would  have  been  glad  to  take  his  sermons  and  go  into 
all  the  earth  with  them  to  preach  the  everlasting  gos- 
pel to  every  creature. 

"  Some  of  those  sermons  have  been  printed  and 
widely  read.  His  addresses  on  special  occasions  at 
seats  of  learning,  and  elsewhere  growing  into  volumes 
have  wrought  themscKcs  into  the  mind  of  the  church, 


PERSONAL   ASSOCIATIONS.  313 

and  have  become  potent  moral  forces  in  the  lives  of 
those  who  know  not  whence  their  impulses  came.  The 
Rev.  William  M.  Taylor,  D.  D.,  now  present,  says  that 
when  Dr.  Williams's  essay  on  '  The  Conservative  Prin- 
ciple in  Literature '  was  published  in  Glasgow,  he  read 
it,  and  it  gave  a  fresh  color  and  influence  to  his  whole 
life-work  which  he  feels  to  this  day.  He  regards  that  as 
one  of  the  great  religious  discourses  in  the  language. 

"  That  is  doubtless  the  greatest  of  Dr.  Williams's  pro- 
ductions. Though  written  forty  years  ago,  it  is  fresh  to- 
day and  will  be  for  all  time.  It  makes  the  Cross  of 
Christ  the  grand  conserving  force  in  the  world's  litera- 
ture. He  draws  illustrations  from  history,  sacred  and 
profane,  he  rifles  the  realms  of  science  and  art,  searches 
the  profoundest  depths  of  philosophy,  adorns  it  with  the 
charms  of  poetry  and  song,  infuses  the  blood  of  Christ 
into  the  stupendous  argument,  till  it  glows  and  burns  with 
the  heat  of  the  gospel,  while  the  trumpet  and  thunder  of 
eternal  law  shake  the  earth  and  heaven,  as  the  dread  ar- 
tillery of  God  is  seen  marching  on  to  the  destruction  of 
error  and  the  establishment  of  everlasting  truth. 

"  He  was  a  mighty  reader  of  books  in  youth,  man- 
hood, and  old  age.  He  read  them  in  many  languages. 
He  bought  them  most  abundantly,  and  gathered  a  library 
larger,  richer,  and  more  varied  and  valuable  than  any 
other  minister  among  us  is  known  to  possess.  He 
knew  more  about  books  in  all  departments  of  knowledge 
than  almost  any  other  man.  He  was  a  bibliophilist  in- 
deed. He  lived  among  his  books.  He  died  among 
them,  as  we  shall  see. 

"  Those  who  never  heard  Dr.  Williams,  and  never 
read  his  magnificent  productions  will  suspect  me  of  ex- 
aggeration in  speaking  thus  of  his  knowledge,  breadth, 


314  SAMUEL  IREN.4iUS    rRIML. 

and  power.  But  why  should  I  fear  to  speak  in  the 
most  exalted  strains  of  Christian  eulogy  of  this  illus- 
trious man,  when  I  heard  the  late  Dr.  William  Adams 
(easily  the  most  accomplished  divine  in  the  denomina- 
tion which  he  dignified  and  adorned )  say :  '  I  am  thank- 
ful that  we  have  such  a  man  among  us,  an  honor  to  the 
ministry,  and  who  in  sound  learning  and  varied  accom- 
plishments is  unsurpassed  in  tliis  wide  land.' 

"  And  the  successor  of  Dr.  Adams  in  the  presidency 
of  Union  Theological  Seminary,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Hitchcock, 
said  of  Dr.  Williams :  '  It  is  seldom  we  meet  with  a  man 
so  difficult  to  praise  adequately,  one  in  whom  we  find 
combined  masterly  intellect,  sound  scholarship,  and  gen- 
uine breadth.  He  is  the  man  I  have  revered  and  do  re- 
vere beyond  all  others  in  our  city,' 

"  And  Dr.  John  Hall,  one  of  my  hearers  now,  con- 
fesses ;  '  I  have  no  language  at  command  to  express 
my  admiration  and  respect  for  one  whose  clearness  of 
thought,  justness  of  discrimination,  deep  learning,  cath- 
olic views,  and  affluence  of  imagination  are  recognized 
so  widely.'  With  all  his  intellectual  force  and  vast  accu- 
mulation of  knowledge.  Dr.  Williams  was  as  simple- 
hearted  as  a  child  and  tender  as  a  woman.  He  seemed 
more  like  an  inspired  child  than  a  great  man,  —  so  mod- 
est, so  humble,  so  gentle  were  all  his  words  and  ways. 
Therefore  he  was  a  beloved  pastor  as  well  as  a  grand 
preacher.  A  son  of  consolation  in  the  chamber  of  grief, 
he  ministered  tenderly  to  the  sick  and  afflicted  in  the 
loving  spirit  of  his  Master.  Rare  is  such  a  combination 
of  graces  in  a  child  of  God.  Absorbed  in  books,  the 
great  scholar  seldom  has  sympathies  with  the  world 
about  him.  He  comes  to  live  among  the  past  and  to 
lose  his  interest  in  the  present. 


PERSONAL  ASSOCIATIONS.  315 

"  Not  always  is  a  great  preacher  a  good  shepherd. 
But  it  was  the  glory  of  this  good  man  that  his  heart  was 
never  chilled  by  the  blood  going  to  the  head :  he  knew 
much  and  loved  more.  He  became  very  wise  and  very 
learned,  but  he  kept  near  the  Cross  of  Christ,  the  central 
theme  of  his  studies  and  the  radiant  point  in  every 
sermon.  Had  not  his  voice  failed  him  he  would  have 
been  mighty  in  the  pulpit  and  on  the  platform,  a  leader 
in  the  religious  world,  and  of  world-wide  fame. 

"  P'or  many  years  past  he  has  been  dwelling  among 
us,  but  dwelling  apart,  yet  in  living  sympathy  with  the 
church,  with  her  institutions  of  learning  and  religion, 
and  with  the  great  movements  of  the  age.  Many  of  the 
younger  race  of  ministers  scarcely  knew  that  this  master 
in  Israel  was  still  here.  But  his  near  friends  knew  it  and 
cherished  him  tenderly.  A  loving  home  circle  held  him 
back  from  heaven.  He  preached  his  last  sermon  March 
22.  A  fatal  illness  laid  its  hand  upon  him.  The  patri- 
arch of  fourscore  knew  the  Master's  call.  And  as  the 
end  drew  nigh  he  said :  '  Take  me  out  of  this  bed  and 
carry  me  into  the  library  among  the  books  that  I  love.' 
In  tender  arms  they  bore  him,  as  he  wished.  The  faith- 
ful, loving  wife  of  his  youth,  two  noble  sons,  and  a  few 
dear  friends  were  around  him.  More  than  all,  the 
Author  of  his  faith,  Jesus  the  Saviour,  whom  he  had 
preached  and  loved  with  undying  love,  was  with  him. 
He  cast  a  languid,  dying  eye  upon  the  friends  and  books 
he  loved,  and  then  upon  his  Saviour's  breast  '  he  leaned 
his  head,  and  breathed  his  life  out  sweetly  there.'  " 


3l6  SAMUEL  IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

THE  REV.  J.  W.  CUMMINGS,  D.  D. 

Of  the  Reverend  J.  W.  Cummings,  D.  D.,  the  ac- 
compHshed  pastor  of  St.  Stephen's,  New  York,  who 
died  January  4,  1866,  Dr.  Prime  gives  the  following 
reminiscences :  — 

"  This,  as  I  learn  by  the  daily  papers,  is  the  anniversary  of 
the  death  of  Rev.  Dr.  Cummings,  the  pastor  of  St.  Stephen's 
Roman  Catholic  Church  in  Twenty-eighth  Street,  in  this  city. 
His  church  was,  and  is,  distinguished  for  its  music,  which  draws 
throngs  to  its  courts.  The  style  of  the  music  is  more  artistic 
than  we  have  in  our  most  fashionable  Protestant  churches,  but 
it  is  attractive  in  the  highest  degree.  He  died  thirteen  years 
ago  to-day,  and,  as  on  the  return  of  each  anniversary,  a  solemn 
high  Mass  of  requiem  was  celebrated  in  the  church  of  his  affec- 
tion. He  was  a  remarkable  man,  a  companionable,  culti\-ated 
scholar  and  gentleman. 

"  My  recollections  of  him  are  refreshing,  and  they  come  to 
me  this  evening  so  cheerily  that  I  must  ask  you  to  share  them 
with  me. 

''  I  was  indebted  to  a  '  mutual  friend,'  Mr.  W.  A.  Seaver,  for  my 
first  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Cummings.  We  were  Mr.  Seaver's 
guests  at  dinner.  A  few  moments  after  first  speaking  with  him, 
for  the  grasp  of  his  warm  hand  assured  me  he  was  ready  for  a 
cheerful  word,  I  said  to  him  :  — 

"  '  Dr.  Cummings,  I  take  this,  the  first  opportunity  of  meeting 
you,  to  beg  your  pardon  for  breaking  open  a  letter  of  yours  at 
my  office.' 

"  *  Ah,'  said  he,  '  how  was  that?    I  have  forgotten  it.' 

"  *  Yes,  a  letter  came  to  us  with  your  name  on  it,  and  as  one 
of  our  editors  bore  the  same  name  as  yours,  he  supposed  it  was 
for  him  and  broke  the  seal.  But  finding  it  was  written  in  Latin 
and  came  from  Rome,  we  concluded  it  must  be  for  some  one 
else  and  returned  it  to  the  post-office.' 


PERSONAL  ASSOCIATIONS.  317 

" '  Oh,  yes/  he  replied,  '  I  remember  now  ;  it  was  an  indul- 
gence we  had  sent  for  from  the  Pope  ;  but  probably  you  needed 
it  at  your  office  more  than  we  did,  and  so  it  went  to  you  ! ' 

"  Speaking  of  the  power  of  music  in  church,  he  said  to  me  : 
'  I  will  undertake  to  fill  any  one  of  your  churches  to  overflowing 
every  Sunday  if  you  will  let  me  provide  the  music' 

"  '  Your  music,'  I  replied,  '  will  not  suit  the  taste  of  our  people, 
who  do  not  fancy  the  style  of  St.  Stephen's.' 

"  '  But  it  shall  be  purely  Protestant  and  Presbyterian,  —  such 
music  as  you  delight  in  ;  adapted  to  your  forms  of  worship  and 
the  wants  of  your  people.  Our  music  would  drive  away  your 
congregations,  but  music  delights,  and  will  always  draw  the 
crowd.  I  am  very  sure  that  your  churches  do  not  appreciate 
its  value  as  a  means  of  bringing  the  multitude  to  the  house  of 
God.' 

"  'We  spend  money  enough  on  it,'  I  said,  'often  as  much  on 
the  choir  as  on  the  pulpit.' 

"  '  Very  true,  but  you  pay  for  that  kind  of  music  that  does  not 
accord  with  your  service  ;  it  does  not  address  itself  to  the  sen- 
timent, the  sensibility,  the  emotional  nature ;  it  is  often  an  ap- 
proach to  the  opera  without  reaching  it  —  so  that  it  is  neither 
the  one  thing  nor  the  other.  Ours  is  artistic,  in  harmony  with 
our  ritual,  addressing  the  imagination  through  the  senses ;  you 
appeal  to  the  intellect  and  the  heart,  and  need  a  music  to  match 
your  services.' 

"  These  are  a  few  only  of  the  words  we  exchanged,  but  we 
met  not  long  afterwards  at  his  own  table,  in  his  own  house. 
Fifteen  or  twenty  gentlemen  sat  down  ;  all  but  four  were  priests 
or  laymen  of  the  Romish  Church.  Dr.  Cummings,  at  the  head 
of  the  table,  had  two  of  us  Protestants  on  one  hand,  and  two 
on  the  other.  The  Austrian  consul  presided  at  the  other  end  of 
the  long  table.  After  we  were  seated,  our  host,  looking  along 
the  rows  of  guests,  remarked  with  great  glee,  '  Now  we  have 
these  Protestants,  we  '11  roast  them.'  I  returned  his  smiles  and 
said,  '  I  thought  we  all  belonged  to  the  same  sect.' 


3l8  SAMUEL^^  IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

"  '  And  which?'  exclaimed  some  one. 

'"The  Society  of  Friends,'  said  I ;  and  they  gave  me  a  cheer 
along  the  line,  and  did  not  try  to  roast  a  Protestant. 

"  It  was  a  memorable  dinner.  I  made  the  acquaintance  of 
several  men  of  learning,  travel,  and  genius,  whose  friendship  I 
prized.  Among  the  books  lying  around  was  a  volume  of  epi- 
taphs composed  by  Dr.  Cunniiings.  He  told  me  that  his  people 
constantly  came  to  him  for  lines  to  put  on  the  gravestones  of 
their  children  and  friends,  and  he  was  obliged  to  make  a  book 
of  them,  so  that  thc)  could  take  what  pleased  them.  He  gave 
me  a  copy,  and  I  made  a  commendatory  notice  of  it  in  the 
'  Observer.'  He  remarked  afterwards  to  a  friend  of  mine  that 
he  did  not  suppose  it  possible  for  a  Protestant  to  speak  so 
kindly  of  a  Catholic  production.  As  the  epitaphs  were  the  ex- 
pression of  human  sympathy  and  love,  the  most  of  them  were 
such  as  come  from  and  to  every  aching  heart. 

"  And  by  and  by  it  came  his  time  to  die.  He  was  in  the 
prime  and  vigor  of  life  when  disease  overtook  him,  and  with 
slow  approaches  wore  his  life  away.  His  constitutional  cheer- 
fulness never  failed  him.  I  think  an  invitation  he  gave  to  our 
friend  Mr.  Seaver  has  no  example  in  the  speech  of  dying  men 
of  ancient  or  modern  times.  Socrates  conversed  with  his  friends 
serenely.  Pliilosophy  and  religion  have  both  made  death-beds 
cheerful.  I  have  spoken  of  Dr.  Cummings's  love  of  music  and 
its  exquisite  culture  at  St.  Stephen's.  It  was  his  pride  and  joy  ; 
and  one  who  has  no  music  in  his  soul  cannot  understand  his 
dying  words.  Mr.  Seaver  was  in  the  habit  of  seeing  him  almost 
daily,  and  each  visit  was  now  apparently  to  be  the  last.  One 
day,  as  the  end  was  very  near  and  the  two  friends  were  parting, 
the  dying  said  to  the  living,  '  Come  to  the  funeral,  the  music  will 
be  splendid.' 

"  And  so  it  was  ;  and  on  each  return  of  his  death-day,  Jan- 
uary the  4th,  the  arches  of  St.  Stephen's  become  anthems,  and 
its  walls  are  vocal  with  song,  in  memory  of  the  departed  pastor, 
an  accomplished  gentleman  and  genial  friend,"' 


PERSONAL   ASSOCIATIONS.  319 

In  an  article  in  "  The  Christian  Advocate,"  Dr. 
Prime  thus  commemorated  several  of  those  whom  he 
entitled :  — 

"MY   METHODIST    FRIENDS." 

"  The  Rev.  David  Terry  was  one  of  the  humblest  and  holiest 
of  my  personal  friends  among  the  Methodists.  He  was  a  man 
quite  unknown  to  fame,  but,  like  Apelles,  approved  of  Christ, 
and  greatly  loved  in  the  communion  of  saints  to  which  he  be- 
longed. He  was  an'  oftice  secretary  in  the  mission  rooms  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  having  been  a  local  and  trav- 
elling preacher  until  the  failure  of  his  health  and  voice  com- 
pelled him  to  pursue  a  path  of  usefulness  that  did  not  require 
him  to  speak  in  public.  He  became  personally  interested  in 
the  missionaries,  who  looked  to  him  as  their  best  friend,  and  be- 
fore they  left  this  port  to  go  to  the  ends  of  the  world  they  loved 
to  make  a  visit  at  his  house  ;  and  if  any  of  them  returned,  his 
hospitable  door  was  the  first  they  wished  to  enter  on  arriving. 
He  was  in  the  habit  of  writing  to  me  and  making  warm  expres- 
sions of  personal  attachment  before  I  had  met  him  face  to  face. 
When  I  came  to  know  him  the  attachment  was  mutual,  and 
continued  to  increase  so  long  as  he  lived.  I  met  him  at  St. 
Paul's  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  at  the  close  of  an  evening 
service,  and  he  said  to  me,  '  I  want  you  to  preach  my  funeral 
sermon.'  When  I  told  him  that  I  hoped  there  was  no  need  of 
thinking  about  that  at  present,  he  informed  me  of  the  delicate 
state  of  his  health  and  the  probability  that  his  life  would  not  be 
long.  He  never  spoke  to  me  on  the  subject  again  ;  and  as  I 
was  not  invited  to  perform  the  service  after  his  death,  it  was 
evident  that  he  did  not  intimate  his  wishes  to  any  one  else. 

"  When  I  learned  that  he  was  very  ill  —  this  was  not  his  last 
sickness  —  I  went  to  his  bedside.  He  took  my  hand,  kissed  it 
tenderly,  and  said  :  '  I  was  almost  over  the  river ;  I  thought  I 
was  crossing  it ;  but  it  was  not  His  will.'    By  and  by  his  mortal 


320  SAMUEL  IREN.EUS   PRIME. 

sickness  came  and  he  was  full  of  peace.  The  heavens  openetl 
to  his  eye  of  sublime  and  simple  faith,  and  angels  seemed  to  be 
about  us  as  I  knelt  in  prayer  by  the  big  easy-chair  in  which  he  was 
slowly  dying.  A  purer,  humbler,  better  man  than  David  Terry 
it  has  not  been  my  lot  to  meet,  and  I  do  not  expect  to  see  an- 
other just  like  him  among  the  saints  on  earth. 

"The  four  brothers  John,  James,  Wesley,  and  Fletcher 
Harper  were  my  warm  personal  friends  during  a  long  term  of 
years.  That  friendship  began  in  business  matters.  On  my  re- 
turn in  1854  from  Europe  and  the  East  they  applied  to  me  for 
a  book  of  travels,  and  while  they  were  bringing  it  out  I  had 
occasion  to  be  often  with  them.  The  accjuaintance  ripened 
into  intimacy  with  some  of  them  that  continued  through  their 
lives.  They  were  in  many  respects  a  remarkable  quartet,  the  like 
of  which  has  probably  never  been  known  in  this  city.  Their 
lives  would  reflect  credit  upon  any  body  of  Christians  to  which 
they  belonged.  Intelligently  attached  to  the  Methodist  Episco- 
pal Church,  they  were  fond  of  its  ministers  and  its  ordinances. 
They  had  their  several  and  distinct  departments,  and  the  har- 
mony with  which  they  wrought  and  the  efficiency  of  their  united 
but  divided  labor  was  wonderful.  If  E  pluribus  unum  had 
been  the  motto  on  their  coat  of  arms  it  would  have  expressed 
the  nature  and  result  of  their  partnership.  The  four  were  one. 
James  Harper  was  the  only  one  of  them  given  to  humor.  He 
was  joking  or  making  pleasantry  the  most  of  the  time.  And  in- 
deed when  I  first  knew  the  brothers  he  was  not  confined  to  any 
specific  bureau,  but,  circulating  generally,  he  imparted  life  and 
sunlight  to  the  whole  establishment.  John  Harper  managed 
the  finances  with  masterly  skill.  It  was  marvellous  to  see  him 
with  head  buried  in  account-books,  plodding  silently  through 
them  until  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  then  quietly  leaving 
the  office  to  drive  a  fast  horse  beyond  the  Park  until  sunset. 
Wesley  was  a  devout  man,  with  a  temper  like  that  of  John  in 
the  gospel,  so  sweet  and  gentle.     To  know  him  was  to  lo\e  him. 


PERSONAL  ASSOCIATIONS.  321 

Fletcher  was  the  youngest  of  the  four.  He  dealt  with  authors 
and  decided  on  books  to  be  published.  For  twenty  years  he 
was  my  confidential  adviser,  and  I  sometimes  thought  I  was  his. 
I  mention  these  traits  and  our  relations  for  the  purpose  of  say- 
ing that  in  all  the  years  of  my  intercourse  with  these  men  there 
was  never  an  incident  or  word  or  omission  that  was  not  in  per- 
fect keeping  with  the  highest  type  of  Christian  integrity.  They 
had  the  reputation  of  being  shrewd  at  bargains.  I  do  not  know 
whether  they  were  or  not ;  but  they  were  always  on  the  square, 
keeping  to  every  engagement,  paying  one  hundred  cents  on  a 
dollar,  and  doing  wrong  to  no  man. 

"  These  four  brothers  were  men  of  business,  and  they  were  all 
praying  men.  They  were  not  impulsive  people.  I  do  not  be- 
lieve that  they  were  given  to  shouting.  Probably  there  are  many 
in  the  Methodist  Church  who  had  more  zeal  and  far  less  knowl- 
edge than  the  Harper  Brothers.  But  the  church  never  had  four 
brothers  —  no,  nor  four  laymen  —  of  whom  she  might  more 
justly  be  proud.  I  knew  them  many  long  years  while  they  were 
in  active  liffe,  and  I  was  present  at  the  funerals,  I  believe,  of  all  of 
them  ;  but  I  never  heard  of  the  slightest  thing  to  cast  suspicion 
upon  the  integrity  and  fidelity  to  every  trust  of  any  one  of  the 
four.  That  is  high  praise  of  a  large  manufacturing  house,  em- 
ploying hundreds  of  men  and  women  and  expending  millions  of 
dollars. 

"  The  youngest  of  the  four,  Mr.  Fletcher  Harper,  was  addicted 
to  the  very  agreeable  habit  of  giving  dinner-parties  in  his  own 
house,  where  he  gathered  at  his  hospitable  table  literary  men, 
clergymen  and  others.  It  came  to  this,  that  he  made  every  Mon- 
day memorable  by  one  of  these  delightful  dinners.  He  had  a 
few  friends  whom  he  distinguished  by  inviting  them  every  week. 
They  were  the  stock  company.  If  a  literary  celebrity  was  in 
town,  he  was  likely  to  be  present  on  these  occasions.  There 
was  no  great  ceremony  about  the  dinner ;  rarely  any  ladies  but 
those  of  the  family,  —  Mrs.  Harper  and  her  two  daughters-in- 
law.     The  invited   guests  numbered  generally  from  twelve  to 


322  SAMUEL   IREN.-EUS   PRIME. 

fifteen.  These  arc  among  the  pleasantest  social  incidents  of  my 
life.  Among  the  ministers  often  there  were  Dr.  John  M'Clintock, 
an  accomplished  scholar  and  gentleman,  the  historian  of  Meth- 
odism ;  Dr.  Abel  Stevens ;  Dr.  George  Crooks,  now  the  distin- 
guished professor  in  Drew  Theological  Seminary ;  Dr.  Hage- 
nay,  pastor  of  St.  Paul's  Methodist  Ei>iscopal  Church ;  and  Rev. 
W.  H.  Milburn,  the  blind  preacher,  one  of  the  most  entertaining 
of  them  all.  The  Methodist  clergy  were  the  most  numerous  of 
the  guests,  and  I  believe  I  was  the  only  member  of  the  stock 
company  who  was  not  also  of  the  Wesleyan  family.  It  was 
natural  tliat  the  conversation  should  turn  largely  upon  the  moral 
and  religious  questions  of  the  day,  on  new  books  and  literary 
events,  and  the  mingling  of  amusing  anecdote  w^as  sufficiently 
frequent  to  make  the  feast  eminently  enjoyable.  No  party  is 
ever  more  social  and  lively  than  a  party  of  ministers,  and  of 
them  the  Methodist  ministers  easily  bear  the  palm. 

It  was  at  this  table  that  I  became  ac([uainted  with  the  Rev. 
John  P.  Durbin,  D.  D.,  who  was  one  of  the  burning  and  shining 
lights  of  the  Methodist  denomination.  Tradition  invests  his 
name  with  a  halo  as  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and  eloquent 
preachers  which  the  American  church  has  ever  heard.  I  can 
readily  believe  it,  as  I  heard  him  once  when  he  was  well  on  in 
years  and  was  considered  then  as  in  the  decay  of  his  powers. 
We  were  having  a  series  of  religious  services  every  Sabbath 
evening  in  the  Academy  of  Music.  Preachers  of  several  de- 
nominations were  invited  in  turn  to  preach.  There  was  a  strong 
desire  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  denominations  that  their 
favorite  and  most  effective  speakers  should  be  selected ;  and 
Dr.  Durbin  was  invited.  The  Academy  was  thronged  to  ex- 
cess. Every  spot  on  which  a  person  could  sit  or  stand  was 
occupied.  The  entire  platform,  in  front  of  the  chairs,  was  cov- 
ered with  people  sitting  on  the  floor.  It  was  obvious  that  the 
Methodists  had  come  in  force  to  honor  and  to  enjoy  their  great 
preacher,  and  he  filled  them  with  all  the  fulness  of  the  richest 


PERSONAL   ASSOCIATIONS.  323 

and  loftiest  religious  eloquence.  His  theme  was  the  dying  love 
of  Christ,  and  it  furnished  an  opportunity  for  his  most  charac- 
teristic manner.  After  stating  his  plan  and  purpose  with  a  sim- 
plicity and  gentleness  that  gave  no  high  promise  of  the  good 
things  to  come,  he  advanced  to  the  height  of  his  great  argu- 
ment. Then  it  was  a  flow  of  soul,  of  melting  tones  and  tears, 
caught  up  by  the  vast  assembly  in  deepest  sympathy,  while  he 
swayed  them,  roused,  subdued,  and  thrilled  them  with  wonderful 
effect.  We  were  in  a  vale  of  tears.  That  indefinable  rhetorical 
gift  called  nncUoft  was  his  in  uncommon  measure.  Pathos  was 
his  forte,  and  when  he  had  concluded  it  seemed  to  us  all  as  if 
we  were  in  the  midst  of  a  revival,  and  it  was  good  to  be  there 
with  Moses,  Elias,  and  the  Christ  whose  love  and  blood  were 
now  so  precious." 

"  The  Rev.  John  M'Clintock,  D.  D.,  took  the  platform  on 
another  Sabbath  evening.  His  reputation  as  a  pulpit  orator  was 
justly  very  high,  perhaps  above  that  of  any  Methodist  preacher 
of  that  day.'  He  was  a  fine  scholar,  more  finished  and  artificial 
than  Dr.  Durbin,  more  intellectual  and  polished,  and  he  was 
very  popular.  An  immense  audience  filled  the  theatre,  which 
held  a  thousand  people  more  than  get  into  the  present  Acad- 
emy, taking  the  place  of  the  old  one  that  was  burned.  Dr. 
M'Clintock  was  a  handsome  man,  dressed  well,  and  made  a 
fine  appearance  in  public  as  well  as  in  the  social  circle,  which 
he  charmed  by  his  learning,  wisdom,  and  wit.  He  was  a  man 
of  the  world  in  the  sense  of  being  familiar  with  its  ways  and  the 
usages  of  society,  and  had  a  happy  faculty  of  adapting  himself 
to  the  people  into  whose  company  he  was  thrown.  This  ser- 
mon of  his  in  the  Academy  was  the  only  one  I  ever  heard  from 
him,  and  its  majestic  tones  are  ringing  in  my  ear  this  moment 
as  I  recall  the  graceful,  impassioned  and  impetuous  manner  of 
the  speaker.  He  had  perfect  self-command,  and  at  no  moment 
in  his  delivery  did  he  lose  it  and  exhibit  that  abandon  which 
is  said  to  be  essential  to  the  most  effective  eloquence.     Edward 


324  SAMUEL   IREN.tUS   PRIME. 

Everett  certainly  had  none  of  it,  yet  lie  could  thrill  an  audience 
with  periods  as  chaste  as  snow.  Dr.  M'Clintock  strode  through 
some  of  his  sentences  with  grandeur  of  diction  and  gesture,  en- 
chaining the  attention,  while  the  clearness  of  the  argument 
easily  carried  conviction  to  the  understanding,  and  the  splen- 
dor of  the  rhetorical  appeal  stirred  the  emotions  and  captured 
the  heart.  I  would  not  draw  a  comparison  between  Drs.  Dur- 
bin  and  M'Clintock,  for  they  were  too  unlike  to  be  compared. 
But  it  is  truth  to  say  that  they  were  both  consummate  masters 
of  puli)it  eloquence  and  shining  lights  in  the  church  they  served 
and  adorned. 

"  It  is  not  becoming  to  speak  of  living  men  in  the  Methodist 
communion  whose  friendship  I  prize,  and  who  are  widely  known 
in  this  and  other  lands.  Our  several  wa)s  of  glorifying  Christ 
in  winning  souls  to  his  kingdom  are  such  as  God  has  given  us, 
and  in  the  great  field  of  the  world  there  are  places  for  us  all  to 
fill.  Christ's  friends  are  mine  always  and  e\-erywhere  ;  and  the 
only  contention  I  want  with  any  of  them  is  to  see  who  will  do 
the  most  for  the  Master  and  live  nearest  to  his  heart.  The 
friends  whom  I  have  named  in  this  sketch  have  been  dear  to  me 
on  earth,  and  among  the  joys  of  Heaven  I  anticipate  the  bles- 
sedness of  meeting  my  brethren,  the  Harper  Brothers,  and 
Terry,  Durbin,  and  M'Clintock,  glorified  spirits,  at  the  supper- 
table  of  Moses  and  the  Lamb." 


part  ^i):rt). 

DEATH   AND   COMMEMORATION. 


part  ^ivti). 

DEATH   AND   COMMEMORATION. 

LAST   DAYS   AND    HOURS. 

DURING  the  winter  of  1885,  Dr.  Prime  maintained 
all  his  usual  intellectual  pursuits  and  wrought  in 
every  direction  with  his  wonted  energy.  But  it  was  evi- 
dent that  his  bodily  vigor  was  not  equal  to  the  burdens 
which  he  had  ever  borne  with  such  wonderful  ease  and 
cheerfulness.  Without  any  premonition  of  serious  illness, 
on  the  4th  of  June  he  left  the  city  with  his  wife  to  spend 
two  or  three  weeks  at  Saratoga  Springs  and  to  fulfil  an 
engagement  to  preach  at  Ballston  Spa  on  the  7th,  the 
fiftieth  anniversary  of  his  ordination  and  installation  as 
the  first  pastor  of  the  Presbyterian  Church  at  that  place. 
On  the  1st  of  July  he  attended  the  Commencement  at 
Williams  College,  of  which  he  was  a  trustee.  After 
tarrying  for  three  or  four  days  with  a  kinsman  at  his 
country  home  at  White  Creek,  New  York,  and  with  a 
friend  at  Hoosick  Falls,  he  started  on  Monday  for  Man- 
chester, Vermont,  to  make  arrangements  to  pass  the 
month  of  August  with  his  family  at  that  place,  where  he 
expected  to  celebrate,  on  the  17th,  the  fiftieth  anniver- 
sary of  his  marriage. 

For  several  days  he  had  been  suffering  occasionally 
from  severe  pain  in  the  region  of  the  liver.     On  his  way 


328  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

to  Manchester  it  became  so  severe  that  on  stepping 
from  the  cars  and  meeting  his  friend,  the  Rev.  Dr.  J.  D. 
W'ickham,  he  asked  for  a  physician,  and  was  introduced 
on  the  platform  to  Dr.  Lewis  H.  Hemenway,  who  went 
with  him  directly  to  the  Equinox  House,  and  who 
was  his  faithful  and  skilful  medical  attendant  until  he 
breathed  his.  last.  The  attack  proved  to  be  caused  by 
congestion  of  the  liver.  It  yielded  readily  to  treatment, 
and  before  the  end  of  the  week  he  was  nearly  recovered. 
In  the  meantime  he  was  joined  by  his  wife  and  by  his 
brother,  William  C.  Prime,  who  had  been  summoned  to 
his  bedside,  not  from  any  apprehension  that  his  illness 
was  of  an  alarming  character,  but  that  he  might  have 
their  presence  while  he  should  be  confined  at  the  hotel. 

On  Sunday  morning,  July  12,  as  Dr.  Hemenway  was 
leaving  the  room  to  attend  public  worship,  Dr.  Prime 
asked  him  to  wait  a  moment  and  attempted  to  utter  a 
request ;  but  his  eyes  filled  with  tears  and  he  said  to  his 
brother,  "Give  me  the  pencil  and  paper;"  and  he 
wrote,  in  bed,  the  following,  which  he  desired  the 
Doctor  to  hand  to  the  pastor  of  the  church :  — 

"To  THE  Pastor,  —  A  stranger  in  town,  being  ill, 
desires  the  congregation  to  unite  with  him  in  thanks  to 
God  for  his  goodness  in  partially  restoring  him,  and  in 
praying  for  complete  recovery." 

And  he  added,  for  the  eye  of  the  pastor  alone,  "  No 
name  to  be  mentioned," 

These  were  the  last  lines  that  his  hand  ever  traced. 

In  the  course  of  the  day  he  engaged  at  intervals  with 
his  wife  and  brother  in  conversation  on  a  variety  of 
topics  in  which  he  was  always  deeply  interested.  Some 
of  these  subjects  were:   Attending  upon  divine  service 


DEATH   AND   COMMEMORATION.  329 

on  the  Sabbath  in  order  to  worship  God  instead  of 
merely  to  hear  a  sermon ;  The  increasing  evil  ten- 
dency, especially  in  New  England,  of  hiring  ministers 
by  the  year  instead  of  having  pastors  permanently  in- 
stalled. He  talked  with  special  delight  on  the  oneness 
of  the  faith  in  various  Christian  churches  that  are  sepa- 
rated by  non-essential  differences  of  opinion ;  of  the 
modern  theory  of  evolution  as  opposed  to  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Bible  ;  of  the  notion  of  many  physiologists, 
and  the  practical  evil  effect  of  their  doctrine,  that  the 
brain  and  not  the  soul  does  the  thinking,  and  that  man 
is  a  machine,  and  not  a  living  spirit  inhabiting  a  physi- 
cal body.  All  this  conversation  was  free  and  social,  and 
not  at  all  in  the  form  of  discussion  or  dogmatism.  It 
was  in  perfect  consonance  with  the  calm,  delightful, 
summer  Sabbath-day,  the  heaven-sent  breezes  of  which 
came  in  at  the  window  and  fanned  him  as  he  lay  waiting 
for  the  messenger  that  was  already  at  the  door. 

On  Sunday  afternoon,  after  sitting  up  for  some  time, 
he  rose  and  walked  with  a  firm  step  to  the  bed,  and 
lying  down  quietly,  closed  his  eyes  and  apparently  fell 
asleep.  The  doctor  entered  a  few  moments  after,  and 
approaching  the  bedside,  spoke  to  him,  but  received 
no  answer.  The  mind  which  for  more  than  seventy 
years  had  been  active  and  communicative  was  to  hold 
no  more  intercourse  with  the  outer  world.  He  recog- 
nized those  who  were  around  him,  but  he  was  never  able 
to  converse ;  he  replied  to  questions  only  in  monosylla- 
bles. On  Monday  morning  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Stod- 
dard, and  Rev.  Dr.  Charles  A.  Stoddard  arrived  and 
were  recognized  by  him,  by  a  significant  look. 

He  lingered  in  this  condition,  suffering  no  pain  and 
giving  no  signs  of  active  consciousness,  growing  weaker 


330  SAMUEL  IREN/EUS    TRIME. 

from  day  to  day  until  Saturday,  the  i8th,  at  a  quarter 
to  one  o'clock,  when  the  wheel  of  life  stood  still,  and 
he  passed  away  so  gently  and  peacefully  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  tell  when  his  happy  spirit  left  its  tenement 
and  went  up  to  join  the  company  of  the  redeemed  in 
heaven. 

FUNERAL   SERVICES. 

These  were  held  on  Wednesday,  July  22,  in  the  West 
Presbyterian  Church,  New  York  Cit}^  of  which  Dr. 
Prime  had  been  a  regular  attendant  for  a  number  of 
years. 

Although  it  was  one  of  the  hottest  days  of  midsum- 
mer, in  a  comparatively  deserted  city,  the  church  was 
crowded. 

The  body,  enclosed  in  a  black,  cloth-covered  coffin, 
was  carried  up  the  main  aisle  followed  by  the  family  of 
the  deceased  and  the  associate  editors  and  employees  of 
the  "  New  York  Observer."  The  plate  upon  the  coffin 
bore  the  simple  record  :  — 

REV.    SAMUEL    IREN^US   PRIME,    D.  D. 

BORN   NOVEMBER    4,    l8l2. 

DIED   JULY    18,    1885. 

An  open  Bible,  formed  of  white  and  yellow  roses,  with 
the  inscription  in  blue  violets,  "  Blessed  are  the  dead 
which  die  in  the  Lord  "  (Rev.  xiv.  13),  was  the  only  or- 
nament ;  and  this  floral  tribute  came  from  those  who 
had  joined  with  Dr.  Prime  a  few  months  before  in  cele- 
brating his  forty-fifth  anniversary  as  the  editor  of  the 
"  New  York  Observer." 


DEATH   AND   COMMEMORATION.  33  I 

When  all  were  seated,  the  beautiful  poem  of  Phoebe 

Gary, 

"  One  sweetly  solemn  thought," 

was  sung  by  Miss  Henrietta  Beebe.  Passages  of  Scrip- 
ture were  then  read  by  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  S.  Hastings, 
after  which  the  hymn, 

"  Pilgrims  of  the  night," 

was  sung  by  the  choir.  Rev.  Dr.  John  R.  Paxton,  the 
pastor  of  the  church,  then  spoke  as  follows:  — 

"  It  is  a  great  thing  to  live  seventy-three  years  in  this  world, 
and  thoroughly  earn  one's  grave,  and  leave  a  record  without  a 
blot,  a  name  without  a  stain,  and  a  character  and  career  that 
make  the  whole  country  debtor  to  the  dead. 

"  This  is  literally  true  of  Dr.  Prime.  We  are  all  in  debt  to 
him.  When  I  was  a  lad  in  a  country  village,  taking  my  first 
wondering  ^  view  of  books  and  papers,  the  '  Irenseus  Letters ' 
in  the  '  New  York  Observer '  were  the  delight  of  my  Sundays. 
Last  week,  over  in  Pennsylvania,  at  an  old  church  in  Cumber- 
land Valley,  it  was  told  that  '  Irenaeus  '  was  a-dying.  '  Alas  ! ' 
said  an  old  lady,  '  he  was  my  best  preacher  these  forty  years. 
His  '  Letters  '  were  a  staff  to  help  me  through  every  week,  bring- 
ing comfort  and  strength  every  time,  and  shedding  light  upon 
one's  way  through  this  perplexing  world.' 

"  This  is  the  way  it  was  all  over  the  land,  in  ten  thousand 
churches,  and  homes,  and  hearts,  when  the  news  was  flashed  by 
telegraph  that  Irenaeus  Prime  was  dying.  I  call  this  true  fame, 
and  a  life  well  worth  living.  Dear  friends.  Dr.  Prime  was  a 
great  power  in  this  land.  For  more  than  fifty  years  he  has  been 
by  voice  and  pen  on  the  side  of  every  good  cause  that  needed 
advocates  and  defenders  in  our  country.  He  has  preached  to 
two  generations  the  old  story  of  the  cross,  and  the  principles 
and  conduct  of  a  useful,  upright,  and  noble  life.     His  name  is  a 


S3-  SAMUEL   IREN.EUS    PRIME. 

household  word,  and  his  enduring  fame  is  secure,  Hke  Washing- 
ton's, in  the  hearts  and  gratitude  of  his  countrymen.  For  I 
know  of  no  man  in  this  country,  in  the  past  fifty  years,  in 
pubhc  or  private  station,  who  has  made  a  lasting  mark  for  good 
on  more  minds  than  Dr.  Prime.  He  entered  the  family, — 
the  foundation  of  your  churches  and  State.  He  inculcated  a 
pure  religion.  He  recommended  Christianity  to  the  young  and 
old  by  the  charm  and  grace  and  geniality  of  his  nature  and  writ- 
ings. Dr.  Prime  was  no  ascetic,  seeing  only  the  hard  and 
gloomy  side  of  life  and  religion,  but  at  home  with  his  Lord  and 
Master  at  a  wedding  in  C'ana,  where  joy  was  unconfined,  as 
well  as  tender  and  sympathetic  at  a  funeral  or  in  the  house  of 
mourning. 

"  Dr.  Prime  was  consenati\'e  by  nature  and  education,  yet 
never  a  bigot  or  fanatic  on  any  question  agitated  and  debated 
in  tlie  land  for  half  a  century.  I  think,  if  all  his  letters  were 
bound  in  a  book,  that  if  all  his  writings  were  examined,  the 
most  careful  scrutiny  would  not  find  a  line  to  expunge,  or  a 
page  that  his  best  friend  would  regret  he  wrote. 

"  The  remarkable  thing  —  the  striking  characteristic  in  Dr. 
Prime  —  was  the  well-balanced  head  he  carried  above  his  shoul- 
ders. He  had  no  eccentricities.  He  had  no  pet  virtue,  no 
one  little  hobby,  no  one  special  excellence  which  he  always 
aired  and  rung  changes  on.  Nay,  he  was  a  broad-minded  man  ; 
he  had  many  windows  to  his  mind ;  he  took  in  light  from  every 
quarter,  and  thus  could  write  and  did  write  truthfully,  charm- 
ingly, profitably,  on  all  questions  that  engaged  the  interest  or 
concerned  the  conduct  of  human  life. 

"  Dr.  Prime  was  well  named  '  Irenaeus.'  His  life  was  an 
irenicon.  He  hated  war.  He  loved  peace,  and  studied  peace 
and  advocated  peace  in  Church  and  State  and  family.  Vet 
there  was  nothing  weak  or  compromising  in  his  nature  or  treat- 
ment of  great  questions  or  fundamental  principles.  When  a 
principle  was  at  stake  he  set  his  face  like  a  flint,  and,  like 
Athanasius,  would  stand  against  the  world.     He  would  go  two 


DEATH   AND    COMMEMORATIOxW  333 

miles  with  you  any  time  out  of  courtesy,  by  the  grace  and  con- 
sideration of  a  gentle  and  tolerant  mind ;  but  if  anybody 
coerced  him  he  would  not  budge  an  inch.  If  any  impious  hand 
touched  the  ark  of  God  his  voice  was  a  menace  and  his  atti- 
tude martial  at  once.  '  Hands  off ! '  he  cried,  •'  and  no  trifling  or 
liberties  with  the  essential  truths  of  Christianity,  or  the  integrity 
of  Holy  Scripture  as  the  inspired  word  of  God,' 

"  Always  by  voice  and  pen  Dr.  Prime  was  the  leading  advocate 
of  the  evangelical  Protestant  faith  in  this  country.  He  was 
thorough-going  in  his  orthodoxy.  He  never  would  compromise 
with  the  Papacy,  or  with  atheistic  science,  or  tlie  new  liberal 
theology.  But  this  is  not  the  time  or  place  to  dwell  upon  the 
achievements  of  his  long  and  distinguished  life.  On  other  oc- 
casions justice  will  be  done  his  memory,  and  the  church's  debt 
to  Dr.  Prime  clearly  set  down,  as  editor,  preacher,  presbyter, 
and  author.  Let  it  suffice  to  say,  we  have  lost  one  of  the  best 
and  wisest  and  most  loyal  and  distinguished  champions  of  Chris- 
tianity in  the  land.  \Mien  shall  we  see  his  like  again?  Who 
can  take  up  the  pen  that  wrote  those  unique  and  delightful 
'  Irengeus  Letters '  these  many  years,  now  that  the  hand  that 
wielded  it  so  cunningly  and  skilfully  is  stiff  in  death?  Alas  ! 
alas  !  a  great  man  and  leader  has  fallen  in  Israel. 

"  It  is  a  personal  affliction.  It  is  a  calamity  to  the  whole 
church.  I  may  say  that  in  a  sense  it  is  a  national  loss  and 
sorrow ;  for  in  every  State  of  the  Union  Dr.  Prime  had  constitu- 
ents, and  worked  righteousness  and  comforted  hearts  and  forti- 
fied souls  in  virtue.  For  to-day,  all  over  the  land,  there  are 
tears  and  sorrow  for  '  Irenaeus,'  dead.  Thank  God  for  hi^ 
noble  life  ;  for  his  long  career ;  for  his  pure  character ;  for  his 
deep  piety ;  for  his  fertile  and  brilliant  pen  ;  and  his  great  influ- 
ence in  the  widening  lives  of  thousands  whose  steps  he  directed 
by  his  counsels,  and  whose  hearts  he  strengthened  by  his  un- 
wavering faith  in  God.  We  loved  him  in  life,  for  there  was 
none  more  lovable,  more  genial,  more  kind ;  a  hand  always 
open,  a  heart  always  sweet,  and  a  smile  and  tone  that  were 


334  SAMUEL  IREN/EUb    PRIME. 

cheering  as  sunshine,  and  welcome  as  fresh  air.  We  loved 
him  in  life,  we  mourn  him  dead,  and  will  cherish  his  memory 
as  an  inspiration  to  high  and  noble  aims  and  deeds. 

"  Thank  God  for  one  thing,  that  there  was  no  decrepitude,  no 
long  invalidism,  no  period  of  wasting  and  suffering.  No,  he 
worked  up  to  the  last  week  ;  his  brain  kept  its  clear  light,  his 
hand  was  firm  at  his  desk,  the  best  wine  was  at  the  last.  Down 
to  the  end  he  did  his  day's  work,  and  with  his  hand  on  the 
plough  he  was  called  away  to  see  the  Lord  in  the  Paradise  of 
God,  —  that  Master  whom  he  loved  supremely  and  served  so 
faithfully  for  seventy-three  years.  There  is  nobody  left  just  like 
him.  He  will  have  no  successor.  But  long  as  this  country 
endures  and  Christianity  is  prized.  Dr.  Irenaeus  Prime  is  sure 
of  honor  and  fame  for  the  good  he  accomplished,  the  life  he 
lived,  the  God  he  glorified,  —  as  citizen,  preacher,  editor, 
author,  and  man. 

"  May  the  unblotted  record  of  his  life,  and  the  tears  and  sor- 
row of  ten  thousand  souls  in  this  country  for  one  they  admired 
and  loved  as  teacher  and  helper  in  this  life  journey  —  may  this 
record  and  their  tears  be  the  best  consolation  of  the  widow 
and  children  and  friends  of  him  who  is  now  in  heaven,  but 
whose  body  is  with  us  still. 

"  Dear  friends,  the  question  is,  when  a  man  dies,  not  how 
much  money  did  he  leave,  nor  how  many  enemies  did  he  slay, 
nor  how  many  machines  did  he  invent,  but  how  many  hearts 
bled,  how  many  tears  were  shed  for  him,  how  many  mourned 
him  dead.     Judged  by  this  test,  no  man  had  a  wider  fame. 

•  "  '  Farewell,  father  and  friend,  farewell ! '  " 

At  the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Paxton's  address  the  Rev. 
Thos.  S.  Hastings,  D.  D.,  Professor  in  Union  Theologi- 
cal Seminary,  spoke  as  follows :  — 

"  Often  upon  funeral  occasions  the  pastor  feels  that  the  char- 
acter and  career  need  explanation  or  (.lefence  or  eulogy.     It  is 


DEATH   AND    COMMEMORATION.  335 

not  so  to-day.  We  all  know  and  honor  and  love  the  man 
whose  loss  we  mourn,  and  need  no  one  to  introduce  him  to  us. 
His  life  has  been  interwoven,  to  a  degree  rarely  equalled,  with 
the  domestic,  the  ecclesiastical,  and  the  public  and  civil  hfe  of 
our  times.  I  remember  that  in  my  childhood  I  looked  up  to 
him  with  a  peculiar  reverence  as  that  '  Irenseus  '  about  whom 
so  many  good  people  were  often  talking.  Then  in  early  xmn- 
hood  I  knew  him  as  a  controversialist,  faithful  and  fearless  in 
the  cause  of  the  truth  as  he  understood  it.  In  the  trying  times 
when  discussion  was  hot,  when  thought  clashed  with  thought, 
and  feeling  grappled  with  feeling,  the  gentle  pen  of  '  Irenaeus  ' 
became  keen  and  quick  alike  in  ward  and  in  thrust.  It  was 
like  that  old  legend  which  claimed  that  the  Damascus  blade 
gave  forth  both  sparks  and  perfume.  Then  when  I  came  to 
this  city  as  a  young  pastor,  many  years  ago,  I  confess  I  was 
surprised  and  delighted  to  discover  the  tenderness  of  his  heart 
and  the  warmth  of  his  sympathy.  To  a  very  wide  constituency 
of  the  best  people  he  was  known  only  through  his  facile  and 
graceful  pen.  But  if  you  knew  him  in  that  way  only  you  did 
not  really  know  him.  If  you  have  not  seen  him  with  his  chil- 
dren and  grandchildren  about  him  ;  if  you  have  not  seen  him 
in  the  freedom  of  private,  unconstrained  fellowship  with  his 
brethren  loved  and  trusted ;  if  you  have  not  seen  him  touched 
to  the  heart  by  the  appeal  of  suffering  and  sorrow,  then  you 
have  not  really  known  him.  With  him  how  easy  and  quick  was 
the  transition  from  smiles  to  tears  !  In  the  best  sense,  only  the 
earnest  can  be  mirthful ;  only  the  strong  can  be  tender. 

"  We  must  not  think  to-day  only  of  our  loss  ;  we  must  look  at 
the  other  side,  toward  the  home  which  he  has  just  entered.  In 
Guizot's  words,  '  the  dawn  of  the  eternal  day  which  fools  call 
death,'  —  what  a  dawn  it  has  been  to  our  friend  and  brother  !  As 
I  was  journeying  hither  to-day  to  attend  this  service,  amid  the 
crowd,  alone  with  the  thought  of  this  friend,  I  wrote  down,  one 
after  another,  the  names  of  distinguished  ministers  who  have 
died  since  I  began  my  professional  life  here,  nearly  thirty  years 


336  SAMUEL   IREX.liUS    PRIME. 

ago.  Slowly  the  list  increased,  as  I  recalled  one  loved  face 
after  another,  until  I  had  thirty  names  —  brilliant  and  blessed 
names  —  with  all  of  whom  our  departed  brother  had  enjoyed 
close  and  familiar  fellowship.  He  was  always  bright  and  charm- 
ing in  such  intercourse.  I  am  sure  the  laity  do  not  know  how 
stimulating,  refreshing,  and  delightful  is  the  personal  and  profes- 
sional fellowship  enjoyed  by  the  ministry  in  this  city.'  How 
much  better  it  must  be  in  heaven  !  As  I  looked  again  at  my  list 
it  touched  me  to  see  how  I  had  these  noble  names  grouped 
without  reference  to  the  denominations  they  represented. 
There  were  Methodists  and  Baptists  and  Episcopalians  and 
Congregationalists,  and  Presbyterians  all  intermingled,  and  I 
could  not  help  saying,  So  heaven  will  have  it ;  only  earth 
can  keep  such  men  separate.  How  rich  is  heaven  becoming  ! 
How  many  well-known  hands  have  been  stretched  out  to  wel- 
come the  coming  of  our  brother  1  Oh  !  it  is  a  goodly  company 
which  is  fast  gathering  on  high,  to  which  each  new-comer  is 
welcomed  with  a  joy  in  strong  contrast  with  the  sorrow  here. 
We  must  not  look  backward  or  downward,  but  onward  and  up- 
ward. Our  brother  is  not  dead.  '  In  his  own  order,'  at  his 
appointed  time,  the  Lord  has  called  him  higher.  I  recall  the 
(juaint  but  touching  verse  of  Baxter  :  — 

"  •  As  for  my  friends,  they  are  not  lost  ; 

The  several  vessels  of  thy  fleet 

The'  parted  now.  by  tempests  tost, 

Shall  safely  in  the  haven  meet.' 

"  We  thank  God  for  what  our  brother  was  and  for  what  he 
has  done,  and  trust  in  our  turn,  through  infinite  grace,  to  follow 
where  he  has  been  permitted  to  go  before  us.  So  is  our  sor- 
row full  of  gratitude  and  hoi:)e. 

"  '  Alas  for  him  wlio  never  sees 

The  stars  shine  thro'  his  cypress  trees.'" 

The  assembly  then  united  with  the  Rev.  William 
Ormiston,  D.  D.,  in  a  fervent  and    comfortincj  prayer, 


DEATH   AND    COMMEMORATION.  337 

after  which  the  hymn  "  Jerusalem  the  Golden,"  a  favo- 
rite hymn  of  Dr.  Prime,  was  sung  by  the  choir,  and 
after  the  benediction  had  been  pronounced  the  family 
retired. 

Then  the  coffin  was  opened  and  the  long  procession 
of  friends  took  their  last  look  upon  the  calm  and  vener- 
able face  of  "  Irenaeus."  In  the  afternoon  the  interment 
was  made  privately  in  Dr.  Prime's  lot  at  Woodlawn 
Cemetery. 

MEMORIAL   SERVICES. 

On  Tuesday  evening,  Jan.  5,  1886,  a  service  in  mem- 
ory of  the  late  Rev.  S.  Irenaeus  Prime,  D.  D.,  was  held 
under  the  direction  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance  of  the 
United  States,  at  Association  Hall,  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  The  audience  filled  the  main  floor  of  the  hall, 
and  overflowed  into  the  galleries,  and  sat  with  un- 
wearied attention  during  the  exercises,  which  occupied 
almost  two  hours. 

Among  those  present  were  clergymen  of  all  denomi- 
nations, bankers,  merchants,  and  lawyers  and  ladies 
eminent  in  social  life  and  philanthropic  endeavor.  It 
was  an  assemblage  representative  of  the  best  elements 
of  New  York  life.  An  admirable  portrait  in  oil  of  Dr. 
Prime  was  hung  in  the  rear  of  the  platform,  and  was  a 
source  of  much  pleasure  to  those  who  awaited  the  hour 
of  opening. 

At  eight  o'clock  Mr.  William  E.  Dodge,  President  of 
the  Alliance,  took  the  chair.  Seated  with  him  upon 
the  platform  were  the  following  gentlemen  :  President 
McCosh  of  Princeton  College,  Bishop  Harris,  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  church,  the  Rev.  R.  S.  Storrs,  D.D., 


338  SAMUEL   IREN.KUS    I'RI.MK. 

the  Rev.  Henry  M.  Field,  D.  D.,  the  Rev.  Edward 
Bright,  D.  D.,  the  Rev.  Wm.  M.  Taylor,  D.  D.,  the  Rev. 
Thomas  Armitage,  D.  D.,  the  Rev.  O.  H.  Tiffany,  D.  D., 
the  Rev.  C.  C.  Tiffany,  D.  D.,  the  Rev.  A.  C.  Wedekind, 
D.  D.,  the  Rev.  Wm.  T.  Sabine,  D.  D.,  the  Hon.  John 
Jay,  Vice-ChanccUor  McCracken,  of  the  University  of 
the  City  of  New  York  ;  Professor  Buell,  of  the  General 
Theological  Seminary  ;  General  Clinton  B.  Fisk,  the 
Rev.  George  L.  Shearer,  D.  D.,  of  the  American  Tract 
Society  ;  the  Rev.  W.  W.  Atterbury,  D.  D.,  of  the  Sab- 
bath Committee;  the  Rev.  Samuel  H.  Hall,  D.  D.,  of 
the  Seamen's  Friend  Society ;  the  Rev.  Henry  B. 
Chapin,  D.  D.,  the  Rev.  Erskine  N.  White,  D.  D.,  the 
Rev.  A.  H.  Burlingame,  D.  D.,  the  Rev.  N.  W.  Conk- 
ling,  D.  D.,  the  Rev.  John  Forsyth,  D.  D.,  and  others. 

Prayer  was  offered  by  the  Rev.  A.  C.  Wedekind, 
D.  D.  The  Rev.  Arthur  Brooks,  D.  D.,  then  read  the 
following  hymn,  which  was  sung  by  the  audience  to 
the  tune  of  "  Rest"  :  — 

"  The  city  of  tlie  Lord  I  see, 
Beyond  the  firmanent  afar  ; 
Its  every  dome  a  noonday  sun, 
And  every  pinnacle  a  star. 

"  How  shall  I  scale  those  shining  lieights, 
And  in  his  beauty  see  the  King, 
And  hear  the  anthems  of  the  skies, 
Those  songs  celestial  voices  sing  ? 

"  Lead  me,  thou  spotless  Lamb  of  God, 
And  place  me  near  thy  wounded  side. 
With  thee  in  glory  let  me  live, 
Immortal,  since  thou  once  hast  died. 


DEATH   AND    COMMEMORATION.  339 

"  Thou  art  my  Saviour  !  there  is  none 
But  thee  on  whom  I  dare  rely  ; 
For  thee,  O  Christ,  'tis  mine  to  live, 
In  thee  my  joy  shall  be  to  die. 

"  Then,  while  this  crumbling  body  sleeps 
In  hope  beneath  its  native  sod, 
My  soul,  redeemed,  will  rise  to  see 
The  shining  city  of  my  God  !  " 

Mr.  William  E.  Dodge  then  said  :  — 

"  We  are  met  to-night  in  a  very  peculiar  and  tender  service. 
There  are  loving  memories  here  of  a  dear  friend,  who  lived  a 
long,  useful,  honorable  life,  and  has  gone  on  before  us  to  the 
Father's  house.  And  there  will  be  tears  in  some  eyes  to-night. 
But  this  is  not  a  sad  or  a  funereal  service,  but  rather  one  of  re- 
joicing and  thanksgiving  for  the  brave,  true  life  that  was  loyally 
hved  and  that  has  left  a  great  example  and  influence.  Of  all 
that  our  dear  friend  Dr.  Prime  was  and  did,  you  will  hear  to- 
night from  friends  who  loved  him.  For  the  Evangelical  Alli- 
ance the  loss  is  a  great  and  terrible  one.  He  was  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  Alliance  ;  he  has  always  been  an  earnest  and 
faithful  worker  in  its  service  and  an  ofhcer  on  its  committees. 
Thoroughly  loyal  to  his  own  communion,  he  still  had  a  broad 
view,  a  broad,  loving,  catholic  heart  that  could  take  in  all  who 
loved  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  think  this  is  the  first  special 
service  ever  held  by  the  Alliance  the  arrangements  of  which 
were  not  largely  cared  for  by  him.  It  is  very  strange  to  us  to 
look  about  this  platform  to-night  and  not  to  see  his  genial,  in- 
terested face.  But  there  is  a  significance  in  his  absence  per- 
haps more  eloquent  than  if  he  were  here.  He  is  gone  before 
us,  and  he  understands  the  full  meaning  of  the  unity  of  saints. 
He  knows  just  how  little  the  differences  are  now  in  which  he 
believed  so  little  when  he  was  on  earth.  If  he  were  to  come, 
an  angelic  visitor,  to-night,  from  that  radiant  home  where  he  is, 


340  SAMUEL   IREN.KUS   PRIME. 

and  could  stand  on  this  platform  with  the  light  of  the  city  of 
God  on  his  face,  how  elociuently,  and  how  earnestly,  and  how 
convincingly  he  would  tell  us  that  these  little  differences  that 
prejudice  and  association,  and  accident  even,  have  placed  be- 
tween Christian  brethren  on  earth  are  as  nothing,  and  that  the 
whole  family  in  heaven  and  on  earth  is  one. 

"  We  shall  hear  now  from  the  Rev.  Dr.  Schaff  the  paper  pre- 
pared by  the  Alliance  commemorative  of  the  death  of  our  dear 
friend.  Before  reading  that,  however,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Atterbury 
will  read  a  few  letters  received  from  those  who  were  unable  to 
be  present  with  us,  and  to  take  a  personal  part  in  this  service 
of  love." 

The  Rev.  W.  W.  Atterbury,  D.  D.,  then  read  ex- 
tracts from  some  of  the  many  letters,  and  the  Rev. 
Philip  Schaff,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,  followed  with  the  paper 
prepared  for  and  adopted  by  the  Evangelical  Alliance. 
After  reading  the  paper  Dr.  Schaff  added  :  — 

"  It  is  in  obedience  to  this  invitation  that  we  meet  to-night  to 
commemorate  and  to  pay  our  last  respects  to  a  good  man,  one 
who  filled  a  very  prominent  post  for  many  years  faithfully,  use- 
fully, and  efficiently.  I  heard  of  the  death  of  Dr.  Prime,  while 
I  was  in  Germany,  from  the  lips  of  his  friend  ex-Governor  Hoff- 
man, who  had  read  a  telegram  in  '  Galignani's  Messenger ' 
announcing  his  sudden  death  in  Vermont.  The  news  cast  a 
cloud  of  sadness  over  my  mind ;  for  I  lost  in  him  not  only  an 
esteemed  colleague,  but  also  a  dear  friend.  We  co-operated 
together  as  secretaries  for  twenty  years  in  the  Evangelical  Alli- 
ance, especially  in  connection  with  the  Conference  which  took 
place  twelve  years  ago  in  this  very  building  and  the  surrounding 
churches,  and  which  will  not  be  easily  forgotten.  And  week 
after  week  I  met  him  in  a  private  circle  of  clerical  friends  and 
brethren.  There  he  was  always  welcome,  and  contributed 
much  to  our  entertainment  by  his  genial  humor,  his  ready  wit. 


DEATH   AND   COMMEMORATION.  34I 

his  inexhaustible  store  of  entertaining  anecdotes,  his  large  ex- 
perience and  knowledge  of  the  world  and  of  the  church  and  his 
general  sympathies.  He  will  long  be  missed  in  pubHc  and  in 
private.  But  let  us  not  look  down  to  the  dust  where  his  mortal 
remains  are  slumbering,  but  upward  to  the  heaven  where  our 
dear  brother  Prime  is  now  enjoying  his  peace  and  the  reward 
for  his  useful  labors," 

The   Rev.  Richard  S.  Storrs,  D.  D.,  then    spoke    as 
follows :  — 

"Mr.  President,  Brethren  of  the  Alliance,  Christian 
Friends,  —  It  would  have  been  a  great  pleasure  to  me  if  it  had 
been  possible,  in  the  haste  of  my  life,  and  the  multiplicity  of  my 
cares,  to  present  a  far  more  elaborate  and  comprehensive  sketch 
of  the  life  of  Dr.  Prime,  and  of  his  character  and  work,  than 
will  be  possible  in  the  brief  and,  I  fear,  somewhat  desultory  re- 
marks which  I  shall  make  this  evening.  I  am  glad,  however, 
to  do  what  I  may  to  express  my  sincere  honor  for  him,  my 
sympathy  with  those  from  whom  he  has  gone,  and  my  sense  of 
the  great  service  which  he  has  rendered  to  the  Christian  church 
throughout  his  life,  by  his  writings  and  labors. 

"  I  have  a  peculiar  feeling  of  embarrassment  in  standing  here, 
and  speaking  of  him,  which  I  do  not  remember  to  have  had, 
certainly  in  the  same  degree,  on  any  similar  occasion  in  my  ex- 
perience. It  arises  from  the  feeling  that  he  is  still  living  and 
present ;  from  the  inability  which  I  suffer  to  realize  that  he  is 
finally  gone  from  the  scenes  and  the  societies  in  which  he  re- 
joiced, and  to  which  he  added  so  much  of  gladness  and  of 
charm.  I  was  absent  from  the  city  at  the  time  when  he  passed 
from  the  hills  of  the  earth  to  the  celestial  mountains.  I  was 
still  absent  when  the  funeral  services  were  held  in  the  church  in 
which  he  was  accustomed  to  worship.  And  in  spite  of  the 
testimony  of  those  who  were  with  him,  or  of  those  who  were 
present  on  that  occasion,  I  cannot  dissociate  him  from  the  life 
here  in  which  he  mingled  so  actively  and  usefully,  so  joyfully, 


342  SAMLEL    IREN.EUS    PRIME. 

and  so  long.  Perliaps,  however,  this  embarrassment  of  mine 
explains  in  part,  the  secret  of  the  hold  which  he  had  upon  so 
many  minds.  The  source  of  it  was,  largely,  no  doubt,  in  the 
vivacity  and  freshness,  the  eagerness  and  abundance  of  life, 
which  always  were  in  him.  He  touched  life  at  many  points, 
because  he  had  in  himself  such  a  rich,  radiant,  and  energetic 
experience  of  it.  He  had  inherited  this  from  those  who  went 
before  him,  —  from  those  from  whom  his  life  was  derived.  My 
father,  in  the  earlier  years  of  his  ministry,  labored  upon  Long 
Island,  as  his  grandfather  had  done  before  him  for  many 
years,  and  as  his  son  after  him  has  been  called,  by  God's  prov- 
idence, to  do.  My  father  knew  the  fother  and  the  mother  of 
Dr.  Prime  —  though  he  was  younger  by  two  or  three  years, 
perhaps,  than  the  Rev.  Nathaniel  Prime  —  while  they  were  at 
Huntington  and  he  was  at  Islip.  He  has  often  spoken  to  me 
of  the  admiring  esteem  and  affectionate  honor  in  which  he  held 
those  friends  of  his  youth,  the  parents  of  him  who  is  now  gone 
into  the  skies.  I  do  not  know  that  his  relations  with  them  were 
ever  intimate  ;  and  in  later  years  he  certainly  did  not  meet 
them.  But  those  impressions  of  his  earlier  life  remained  upon 
him  until  the  end,  and  his  reference  to  them  was  not  infre- 
quent when  he  was  with  me  at  my  house,  or  when  the  name  of 
Dr.  Prime  was  mentioned. 

"  Our  friend  inherited  from  those  parents  the  variety,  versatility, 
quickness  of  intellectual  force  which  he  always  manifested,  and 
much,  I  think,  of  the  social  temper  and  the  sweet  and  sympa- 
thetic spirit  which  also  was  in  him,  as  well  as  of  his  native  tact 
in  dealing  with  difficult  questions  or  refractory  men.  I  have 
heard  him  express  more  than  once,  in  conversation,  the  sense 
of  this  deep  and  various  indebtedness  to  those  from  whom  his 
life  had  been  drawn.  From  them  came  to  him,  as  well,  that 
positive  and  strong  religious  tendency  which  led  him  to  the  full- 
est faith  in  the  evangelical  truth,  and  in  the  Divine  Master  who 
is  the  crown  and  glory  of  that  truth  as  it  exhibits  Him  to  the 
world.     He  was  constitutionally  fitted  for  civic  life — to  be  a 


DEATH   AND   COMMEMORATION.  343 

citizen  in  a  great  community  —  by  the  ardor  of  his  spirit,  by  his 
instinctive  power  of  judging  men,  by  his  interest  in  great  move- 
ments and  great  institutions  ;  and  his  life  was  happily  cast  in 
the  scenes  which  were  most  appropriate  to  it,  when  he  was 
brought  in  the  providence  of  God  into  contact  with  so  many 
eminent  persons  and  great  activities  of  the  social  and  religious 
world.  He  was  fitted  both  by  nature  and  by  grace  to  exert  in 
such  surroundings  a  large,  healthful,  enduring  influence. 

"  The  constant  youthfulness  of  his  spirit  is  exhibited  to  me,  as 
much  as  by  any  other  fact,  by  the  fact  that  I  find  it  almost  im- 
possible now  to  realize  that  it  is  nearly  forty  years  since  I  first 
met  him,  and  that  he  was  then  nearly  approaching  middle  life. 
It  was  soon  after  my  entrance  upon  my  work  in  Brooklyn  that 
I  met  him  at  the  house  of  a  common  friend,  at  a  dinner  party. 
I  was  the  youngest  of  the  company,  and  probably  he  hardly  rec- 
ognized my  presence  ;  but  I  remember  perfectly  the  ready  and 
racy  expression  of  his  opinions,  as  one  question  after  another 
was  mooted  in  conversation,  with  that  fulness  of  anecdote  and 
of  personal  reminiscence  to  which  Dr.  Schaff  has  referred,  and 
the  genial  wit  and  graceful  humor  which  sparkled  in  his  speech. 
I  felt  at  the  time  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  delightful  dinner 
companions  that  I  had  met,  and  I  hoped  that  it  might  be  my 
privilege  to  meet  him  often  afterward  in  similar  circumstances. 
That  did  not,  however,  happen  to  me.     Although,  subsequently 
to  that,  he  lived  for  seven  or  eight  years,  I  think,  in  the  city  of 
Brooklyn,  his  work  was  different  from  mine,  and  we  were  both 
busy  men.     He  was  of  another  communion   from  mine  ;   our 
views  on  many  questions  which  then  agitated  the  public  mind 
were  widely  diverse  ;  and  if  now  and  then  we  met  in  company 
or  met  on  the  street,  my  acquaintance  with  him  at  that  time  was 
intermittent,  occasional,  hardly  satisfactory.     Yet  I  always  re- 
tained that  first  impression,  that  as  a  person  for  cheerful  con- 
versation —  gracefully  flowing,  yet  animated,  instructive,  and  full 
of  charm  —  he  was  one  of  the  very  few. 

"  But  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  he  was  merely 


344  SAMUEL   IREN.^US   PRIME. 

a  man  of  society  —  even  of  Christian  society  —  or  a  mere 
conversationalist.  He  was  a  man  of  remarkable  force  of  mind 
and  will.  1  remember,  more  than  thirty  years  ago,  hearing  him 
deliver  an  address  in  the  University  Place  Presbyterian  Church 
in  this  city  —  after  he  had  been  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the 
Bible  Society  —  upon  the  distribution  of  the  Scriptures,  which 
seemed  to  me  of  very  unusual  force  and  comprehensiveness. 
Perhaps  I  felt  this  the  more  because  it  was  my  misfortune  to  be 
called  to  follow  him,  and  he  seemed  to  me  to  have  occupied 
the  whole  ground  in  the  address  which  he  had  made.  I  have 
met  him,  too,  again  and  again  in  public  discussion ;  and  I  al- 
ways found  him  a  most  efificient  assistant  if  he  was  upon  my 
side,  a  very  dangerous  antagonist  if  he  was  not.  I  remember 
vividly  one  great  discussion  in  this  city,  in  the  councils  of  a 
prominent  national  institution,  where  we  differed  entirely,  and 
where  he  carried  the  vote  —  against  my  judgment  then,  and 
against  my  judgment  now — by  a  singularly  apt  and  effective 
quotation.  As  I  thought  at  the  time,  and  think  now,  it  had  no 
real  appropriateness  to  the  subject,  though  of  course  to  him  it 
seemed  entirely  germane  and  apt ;  but  he  threw  it  in  the  faces 
of  the  opposing  party  so  suddenly  and  dexterously  that  they 
could  not  answer  it,  and  he  swept  the  vote  of  that  large  body 
of  Directors  by  the  quotation  more  than  by  the  force  of  the  ar- 
gument behind  it,  which  I  must  at  the  same  time  admit  was  an 
argument  of  virile  force  and  fitness. 

"I  never  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  him  preach,  as  it  hap- 
pened, until  about  ten  years  ago  or  a  little  more,  when  I  was 
spending  a  summer  at  Litchfield,  and  he  was  also  at  the  same 
village,  not  far  from  me.  Then,  I  think  not  in  a  funeral  service, 
but  in  connection  with  the  death  of  a  friend  of  each  of  us  —  the 
Hon.  Judge  Woodruff  of  this  city  —  he  preached  a  sermon 
upon  the  spiritual  life  and  its  heavenly  consummation,  which 
seemed  to  me  of  very  rare  beauty,  pewer,  and  spiritual  richness. 
I  remember  that  I  felt  at  the  time  that  if  he  had  been  permitted 
to  continue  his  comparatively  brief  early  pastorate,  and  to  remain 


DEATH   AND   COMMEMORATION.  345 

in  the  work  of  the  ministry  in  the  pulpit,  he  would  been  an  ad- 
mirable public  teacher  by  the  voice,  as  certainly  he  would  have 
been  a  most  engaging  and  delightful  pastor. 

"  But  of  course,  his  particular  work  in  the  world  was  the  work 
of  an  editor.  When  I  first  met  him  he  had  already  been  for 
four  or  five  years  connected  with  the  '  New  York  Observer.'  I 
remember  a  letter  of  his,  written  I  don't  know  how  many  years 
ago,  but  certainly  thirty-three  or  four,  from  Hartford,  Connec- 
ticut, in  connection,  I  believe,  with  a  meeting  of  the  American 
Board,  —  certainly  with  some  great  Christian  convocation  which 
was  being  held  in  that  city.  I  have  never  seen  the  letter  from 
the  time  I  read  it  until  now.  It  is  not  included,  I  am  sure,  in 
either  of  the  volumes  of  the  series  of  his  letters  published  in 
book-form  ;  but  I  remember  it  still  as  a  singularly  graceful  and 
poetic  description  of  impressive  natural  phenomena,  —  a  brill- 
iant and  wonderful  sunset  following  a  storm  ;  and,  at  the  same 
time,  as  conveying  a  vividly  descriptive  account  of  the  great 
assembly  whose  sessions  he  was  attending,  with  characteristic 
notices  or  ^sketches  of  distinguished  individuals  whom  he  there 
met  and  heard.  The  other  day,  in  taking  up  one  of  the  vol- 
umes of  his  letters,  as  recently  republished,  I  came  upon  one 
letter  called  '  The  Heart  of  the  Catskills,'  which  reminded  me 
of  that  earlier  letter  from  Hartford,  in  its  poetic  appreciation  of 
the  marvellous  beauty  and  majesty  of  nature,  in  its  graphic, 
graceful,  and  picturesque  rendering  of  this  in  verbal  expression, 
and  in  the  spiritual  feeling  which  suffused  it. 

"  He  was  a  born  editor,  predestinated  to  it  from  before  the 
foundation  of  the  world,  according  to  his  own  admirable  theol- 
ogy. He  had,  as  an  editor,  two  powers  which  singularly  fitted 
him  for  service  and  success  in  that  profession,  —  the  one,  the 
power  of  distinct  apprehension  of  thought,  distinct  presentation 
to  his  own  mind  of  affirmative  opinion;  and  the  other,  the 
power  of  graceful,  vigorous,'* rapid,  and  engaging  expression  of 
such  thought  in  language.  One  might  not  always  agree  with  his 
opinion.     I  did  not.     I  sometimes  even  vehemently  dissented 


346  SAMUEL   IREN/liUS    I'RIMi:. 

from  opinions  which  to  him  were  true  and  important.  But  one 
always  knew  what  the  opinion  was.  And  when  it  concerned 
matters  of  grave  and  serious  importance,  the  subjects  of  Chris- 
tian truth,  or  of  spiritual  duty,  life,  and  experience,  his  opinions 
were  uniformly  sound.  One  might  differ  from  him  in  regard  to 
measures,  in  regard  to  institutions,  in  regard  to  men,  not  infre- 
quently ;  but  when  he  touched  the  higher  subjects  with  which 
the  soul-life  is  concerned,  then  one  rarely  found  occasion  to 
dissent  from  that  which  was  held  and  taught  by  our  beloved 
and  honored  friend. 

"  And  he  had,  as  I  have  suggested,  the  power  of  manifesting 
his  thought  to  others  through  a  style  singularly  perspicuous  and 
attractive.  Men  sometimes  suspected,  perhaps,  that  there  was 
less  of  power  in  this  style  because  the  motion  of  it  was  so  flu- 
ent and  easy.  But  that  easy  motion  came  from  the  conscious 
natural  strength  which  belonged  to  the  style  because  it  first  be- 
longed to  the  man.  His  style  was  like  himself,  —  individual, 
graceful,  spontaneous,  idiomatic.  When  you  met  him  on  the 
street,  his  smile  lighted  the  street  for  half  a  block.  When  you 
met  him  in  a  room,  or  a  social  assembly,  or  on  the  platform,  his 
benignant  face  cast  a  sunshine  on  all  that  looked  upon  it,  a  sun- 
shine which  even  this  admirable  portrait  behind  me  can  hardly 
fully  reproduce.  And  his  style  was  like  the  man.  It  was  pleas- 
ing and  engaging,  but  it  had  a  prompt  energy  in  it.  He  wrote 
readily,  he  wrote  rapidly ;  he  wrote  punctually  and  systemati- 
cally. He  wrote  at  the  unceasing  call  of  the  press ;  and,  at  the 
same  time,  he  wrote  with  that  copious,  spontaneous  liberty  and 
impulse  which  it  was  beautiful  to  see.  In  one  of  his  letters,  I 
think,  he  quotes  an  image  from  some  one,  of  a  mind  which 
shines  like  a  meteor  when  it  is  in  motion,  but  becomes  obscured 
in  proportion  as  it  becomes  quiet  and  ceases  to  move.  I  should 
not  certainly  ascribe  any  meteoric  splendor  to  the  style  of  Dr. 
Prime  —  he  would  have  desired  no  such  unmeet  compliment. 
There  was  nothing  fantastic  in  it  —  nothing  p)TOtechnic  — 
nothing  in  the  least  flagrant  or  sensational.     But  the  expression 


DEATH    AND   COMMEMORATION.  347 

of  his  thought  moved  rather  like  a  mountain  stream,  —  clear,  pel- 
lucid, with  an  easy  and  musical  motion,  quickening  when  it  en- 
countered obstruction,  sparkling  into  foam  as  it  rippled  over 
impediments  or  entered  into  controversy  with  any  resistance, 
while  with  all  its  facile  grace  it  was  ready  to  set  an  unfailing 
strength  beneath  the  wheels  of  great  movements,  and  to  stir 
to  fresh  activity  the  mighty  machineries  of  public  institutions, 
advancing  whatever  measures  of  policy  engaged  his  mind  and 
attracted  his  heart.  It  was  a  style  admirably  adapted  to  the 
perspicuous  and  copious  expression  of  opinion,  and  to  the  im- 
pression of  that  opinion  upon  those  who  read  it.  He  tells  the 
story  somewhere,  I  remember,  of  a  sexton  in  a  church,  who 
loved,  he  said,  to  hear  long  words  in  the  sermon,  such  words 
as  would  'jumble  your  judgment  and  confound  your  sense.' 
Well,  those  were  two  ^hings  which,  whatever  else  Dr.  Prime  did 
or  did  not  do,  he  never  did,  —  he  never  jumbled  one's  judgment 
or  confounded  his  sense.  But  he  uniformly  expressed  his  opin- 
ion, whatever  the  value  and  importance  of  that  opinion,  in  such 
a  clear  and  enlivenhig  fashion  that  every  one  saw  what  it  was 
and  felt  the  full  impression  of  it. 

"Thus  he  made  himself  friends  with  those  who  habitually  read 
his  writings,  in  an  almost  unexampled  degree.  They  felt  tliat 
they  were  meeting  the  thought  and  the  experience  of  a  disci- 
plined mind,  conversant  with  affairs,  largely  and  freshly  contem- 
plative of  truth  ;  and  that  that  thought  was  being  expressed  to 
them  in  the  most  delightful,  picturesque,  and  attractive  manner. 
Therefore  they  felt  toward  him  as  a  personal  friend ;  and  I  do 
not  doubt  that  it  is  true  that  all  over  this  country,  and  in  Europe 
as  well,  there  are  those  who  had  never  seen  his  face,  who  still 
felt  the  shock  of  a  personal  sadness  when  it  was  said  to  them 
that  Dr.  Prime  had  departed  out  of  life  on  the  earth. 

"  He  did  more  than  this.  By  this  transparency  of  style,  and 
this  clearness  and  openness  of  affirmative  opinion,  he  impressed 
himself  upon  his  paper,  so  as  to  make  it  a  mirror  of  his  mind  ; 
and  he  gave  to  it  especially  the  tone  of  that  mind,  a  religious 


348  SAMUEL  iren;eus  prime. 

and  churchly  tone ;  lie  did  this  to  a  degree  that  has  hardly  been 
paralleled,  so  far  as  my  observation  goes,  among  the  religious 
journals  of  the  country.  Others  may  have  surpassed  his  in  the 
brilliancy  and  elaborateness  of  particular  articles,  in  the  brilliancy 
and  comprehensiveness  of  particular  departments ;  but  I  doubt 
if  one  can  find  another  paper  in  which  there  is  so  much  of  the 
atmosphere  of  serious  thought,  of  sober  reflection,  of  the  con- 
scientious conviction  of  duty,  and  of  reverent  worship,  as  there 
has  been  in  the  paper  under  his  conduct  these  many  years.  It 
became  a  kind  of  printed  church,  in  which  one  might  tarry  and 
reflect,  commune  with  fine  minds,  and  worship  God.  So  it  at- 
tracted serious  readers  in  all  communions.  While  he  w^as  loyal 
to  his  own  church  and  to  his  peculiar  forms  of  faith,  men  in 
other  communions,  many  and  various,  delighted  to  read  what- 
ever he  wrote,  and  were  refreshed  and  quickened,  instructed 
and  uplifted,  as  they  read.  The  paper  not  only  attracted  to  it- 
self such  serious  minds,  but  it  deepened  this  tone  of  seriousness 
and  thoughtfulness  in  those  who  read  it.  It  became  in  fact  a 
kind  of  modern  '  Book  of  Acts  '  to  a  multitude  of  Christian 
households.  You  might  tell  beforehand,  without  further  inquiry, 
the  character  of  a  family  into  which  the  '  Observer '  was  wont 
to  go.  The  story  is  told,  I  believe,  of  some  sailors  shipwrecked 
on  a  coral  island  in  the  Pacific,  who  were  fearful  of  cannibal 
cruelties,  and  were  shrinking  and  cowering  in  tlie  thickets  till 
they  heard  afar  the  distant  echo  of  a  church  bell.  Instantly 
they  were  relieved  of  fear,  knew  themselves  at  home,  and  rushed 
to  greet  the  Christian  society  whose  existence  had  thus  been  in- 
dicated to  them.  So  one  might  go  into  any  remotest  village  of 
the  land,  into  any  hamlet,  into  any  humblest  and  rudest  house, 
and  if  he  found  the  '  Observer '  on  the  table  he  might  know 
at  once  that  there  was  a  serious,  intelligent,  God-fearing  family, 
which  worshipped  God  on  the  Lord's  day,  and  which  delighted 
to  read  of  Him,  and  of  His  wonderful  works  in  the  world,  in 
the  secular  days  of  the  week. 

"  Of  course,  it  is  quite  impossible  to  over-estimate  the  influ- 


DEATH   AND    COMMEMORATION.  349 

eace  exerted  by  such  a  man,  through  such  a  journal,  continuing 
so  long  and  reaching  so  far  in  circulation.  No  newspaper  can 
take  the  place  of  a  profound  treatise  on  theology,  or  ethics,  or 
philosophy,  or  church  history.  We  must  have  these,  of  course  ; 
but  at  the  same  time  the  newspaper,  representing  the  substance 
of  what  has  been  contained  in  the  treatise,  and  putting  it  into 
form  for  general  currency,  gives  wings  to  the  thought  which  has 
elsewhere  been  more  largely  and  finely  elaborated.  The  mint- 
master  who  sets  upon  the  coin  its  stamp,  with  the  proper  image 
and  superscription,  and  puts  it  into  general  circulation  in  the 
world,  has  his  important  and  valuable  office  as  well  as  the  miner 
who  has  dug  the  gold  from  the  earth,  or  blasted  it  from  the  rock. 
The  man  from  whom  comes  the  coal  for  my  winter  fireside-blaze, 
or  who  distils  that  coal  into  the  lights  which  change  night  into 
day  along  the  great  avenues  of  the  city,  has  his  place  in  the 
world,  and  an  important  one,  as  well  as  the  swart  miner  who  has 
dug  out  the  coal  from  under  the  base  of  the  towering  mountain. 
And  the  journal  which  gives  currency  to  truth  and  thought,  as 
these  have  been  elaborated  in  the  profound  or  careful  treatise, 
having  access  to  multitudinous  minds,  gives  wings  to  the  trea- 
tise. The  newspaper  cannot  take  the  place,  either,  of  oral  dis- 
course, in  which  the  spirit  of  the  speaker,  touched  by  a  divine 
fire,  goes  forth  upon  his  utterance.  Our  friend  would  have  been 
the  first  to  admit  this,  the  first  to  declare  it.  Our  Master  wrote 
no  sentence,  so  far  as  we  are  informed  —  unless  he  wrote  one 
in  the  sand.  He  spake  much,  and  he  said  himself  that  the 
words  spoken  by  him  were  to  outlast  the  heavens  and  the  earth. 
Preaching  is  to  convert  the  world,  under  the  Divine  grace,  and 
not  newspapers.  But  where  the  elaborate  treatise  exists,  and 
where  the  inspiring  preaching  is  found,  there  the  newspaper 
becomes  —  if  it  be  right  in  religious  tone,  and  right  in  its  relig- 
ious teaching  —  a  constant  and  an  invaluable  auxiliary  power, 
giving  strength  to  the  hand,  giving  warmth  to  the  heart,  giv- 
ing vision  to  the  brain,  of  him  who  teaches  from  the  pulpit,  of 
those  who  bear  office  in  the  church,  or  of  those  associated  in  its 
fellowship. 


350  SAMUEL  IREN/liUS   PRIME. 

"  Our  brother  felt  his  responsibihty  for  this.  He  knew  that 
the  religious  newspaper  gives  this  tone  to  the  family,  —  to  the 
family  thought  and  the  family  life  ;  that  it  suggests  manifest 
questions  for  reflection  and  inquiry,  themes  for  thought  and  for 
further  investigation  ;  that  it  guides  and  quickens  the  conversa- 
tion of  households.  And  he  knew  that  such  conversation  large- 
ly governs  the  world  ;  not  great  addresses,  not  mighty  volumes, 
not  even  newspaper  discussions  in  themselves,  but  the  conver- 
sation which  goes  on  in  your  family  and  in  mine,  and  in  all  the 
households  of  this  city  and  of  the  land,  —  that  is  the  power  which 
really  controls  the  moral  life,  the  social  life,  even  the  public  and 
political  development  of  all  our  communities.  And  the  news- 
paper does  a  large  part  of  its  work  by  touching  this  conversation 
at  its  springs,  suggesting  its  subjects,  guiding  the  directions  of 
thought  expressed  in  it,  quickening  and  animating,  instructing 
and  enriching  what  is  so  mighty  a  power  in  the  world.  It  puts 
gems  of  thought,  too,  into  the  keeping  of  many  minds  to  whom 
they  would  have  been  unfamiliar,  or  positively  unknown,  except 
for  the  medium  furnished  by  the  journal.  Our  friend  recognized 
his  responsibility  for  this  work,  and  wrought  with  all  his  might, 
in  the  ardor  of  his  spirit,  to  make  his  paper  one  worthy  of  the 
truth  which  it  maintained  and  defended,  worthy  of  the  Master 
whom  it  sought  to  ser\-e,  worthy  as  an  instrument  of  spiritual 
good  to  the  multitudes  of  souls  to  which  it  brought  its  instruc- 
tion and  its  impulse. 

"  He  felt  the  dignity  of  his  profession.  Lord  Bacon  says,  you 
remember,  in  the  preface  to  his  '  Maxims  of  the  Law,'  that  he 
holds  every  man  a  debtor  to  his  profession  ;  that  since  it  gives 
him  countenance  and  profit,  he  ought  on  the  other  hand  to 
add  to  it  whatever  he  may  of  help  and  of  ornament.  Our 
brother  rejoiced  in  the  fact  that  he  was  connected  with  so 
prominent  and  influential  a  journal,  consecrated  to  the  ser\'ice 
of  truths  so  great,  and  circulating  so  widely.  And  when  he 
had  become  the  '  Dean  of  the  Faculty '  —  the  oldest,  I  should 
think,  in  his  position  among  the  editors  of  the  city — he  re- 


DEATH   AND    COMMEMORATION.  35  I 

joiced,  as  he  looked  back  upon  the  past,  to  remember  the  work 
which  he  had  wrought,  and  rejoiced  to  bring  whatever  of  fame 
and  gracious  distinction  his  name  could  give  to  the  work  edi- 
torial. He  recognized  the  dangers  of  the  editorial  life.  There 
are  dangers  here,  as  there  are  dangers  in  all  departments  of 
life ;  dangers  in  the  ministerial  life,  dangers  in  the  commercial, 
dangers  more  than  all  in  the  life  of  leisure.  There  are  dangers 
of  their  own  kind  in  the  editorial  life,  —  the  danger  of  swift  and 
superficial  thinking,  as  well  as  writing,  on  important  subjects  ; 
the  danger  of  a  temper  of  arrogant  imperiousness  in  speaking 
of  opponents ;  the  danger  of  excessive  partisanship,  for  or 
against  opinions  or  men.  As  far  as  men  may,  he  avoided  these 
dangers,  and  kept  himself  free  from  whatever  influences  were 
adverse  to  sweetness  and  righteousness  of  spirit.  There  are 
also  educating  powers  in  the  editorial  life.  It  widens  the  view ; 
it  widens  the  mind ;  it  makes  men  conversant  with  persons  and 
measures,  and  great  societies,  and  sensitive  to  the  subtler  drifts 
and  movements  of  public  thought ;  wise  and  quick  in  discern- 
ing tendencies,  and  often  full  of  tact  and  power  in  mastering  or 
guiding  such  tendencies  as*  they  rise.  He  was  thus  educated 
by  his  work, — educated  into  superior  fitness  for  the  office  which 
he  held  in  this  institution,  and  into  like  fitness  for  the  offices 
which  he  held  in  many  others.  Conversant  with  the  world  he 
was,  and  not  a  scholastic  or  pedantic  recluse,  —  familiar  with 
men  and  practical  measures,  and  not  merely  familiar  with  the 
lore  of  books.  And  he  derived  that  in  part  from  the  profession 
in  which  his  life  was  so  gladly  and  usefully  spent. 

"  I  think  in  looking  back  upon  his  life  that  the  one  word 
which  describes  it  better  than  another  is  that  word  which  also 
describes  the  counterfeit  presentment  that  stands  behind  me, 
of  the  face  which  is  no  more  here,  —  the  word  'sunny.'  There 
may  have  been  griefs,  burdens,  and  disappointments  in  his  life 
—  of  which  I  know  nothing  whatever ;  but  the  impression  he 
always  made  upon  one  was  that  of  a  singularly  cheerful  temper- 
ament, cheerful  and  social,  easy  and  elegant  in  his  fashion  of 


352  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

work,  doing  the  work  gladly,  doing  it  rapidly,  doing  it,  not  as 
under  constraint,  but  in  heartiest  joy  of  it  all  the  time.     I  re- 
member an  occasion  in  Litchfield,  during  the  same  summer  to 
which   I  have  referred,  when  this  impression,   more  distinctly 
than  ever,  was  made  upon  me.     I  asked  him  one  evening,  in 
the  name  of  many  of  those  who  were  tarrying  at  the  hotel  with 
me,  to  come  from  his  lodgings,  not  far  off,  and  conduct  for  us 
an  evening  service  of  praise  ;  a  request  to  which  he   readily 
assented.     As  I  remember  it,  he  read  first  one  or  two,  or,  per- 
haps, three  hymns   of  worship,  connected   especially  with  the 
Sabbath  day,  which  were  sung  ;  then  some  passages  of  Script- 
ure, followed  by  prayer,  —  the  Scriptures  referring  principally  to 
the  invitations  of  Christ,  and  especially  to  the  invitation  to  rest 
in  him.     Hymns  succeeded,  expressive  of  the  conscious  and 
sweet  rest  of  the  Christian  heart  in  the  Redeemer  ;  introduced 
and  followed  by  remarks  concerning  those  hymns,  and  concern- 
ing the  ultimate  Christian  rest  to  be  reached  in  heaven.     Then 
hymns  were  announced  relating  to  the  heavenly  life,  and  the 
beloved  who  possess  it ;  at  the  close  of  all  he  read  that  marvel- 
lous hymn  of  Bernard  of  Cluny,  part  of  which  is  printed,  I  see, 
upon  this   programme,  —  'Jerusalem   the   Golden.'     He  read 
many  stanzas,  many  more  than  are  here,  many  more  than  are 
in  any  of  our  hymn-books  —  read  them  with  the  greatest  fervor 
and  sweetness,  with  a  beautiful  intonation,  and  a  more  beautiful 
outgoing  of  the  spirit  on  every  intonation,  until  at  last,  as  he 
closed  we  all  felt,  I  know,  that  we  were  standing  but  just  out- 
side the  celestial  gates,  that  the  cross  was  shining  on  the  dome 
of  that  evening  service,  that  we  had  almost  seen  the  Lord  in 
his  glory ;  and  that  the  golden  stars  overhead  were  not  more 
real  than  the  golden  streets  of  which  the  victorious  hymn  had 
told  us. 

"  He  who  then  led  the  service  has  passed  into  those  gates 
before  us,  as  has  already  been  said.  We  tarry  for  a  little  be- 
hind. But  it  is  beautiful  to  recall  his  life  here, — his  spirit  of 
sympathy  with  whatever  was  best,  his  consecration  to  the  su- 


DEATH   AND    COMMEMORATION.  353 

preme  ends,  in  labors  connected  with  the  welfare  of  the  world 
and  the  glory  of  the  Divine  Redeemer,  — beautiful  to  remember 
that  he  passed  in  such  serenity,  with  the  celestial  light  shining 
on  him,  from  amidst  the  embosoming  hills  of  Vermont  to  the 
paradise  above.  We  well  may  pray  that  our  last  end  may  be 
like  his ;  and  we  well  may  write  upon  his  tombstone  that  epi- 
taph which  he  preferred,  he  said,  beyond  every  other :  '  The 
Lord  is  my  light  and  my  salvation ;  the  Lord  was  the  strength 
of  my  life,  and  He  has  become  my  portion  forever  1 '  " 

The  Rev.  Edward  Bright,  D.  D.,  editor  of  the  "  Ex- 
aminer," then  said :  — 

"  With  all  truth  and  sincerity  I  can  say  that  I  agree  with 
everything  that  Dr.  Storrs  has  said  with  reference  to  the  esti- 
mable man  whose  memory  we  honor  to-night.  No  one  could 
have  drawn  such  a  picture  of  Dr.  Prime  as  Dr.  Storrs  has  done 
unless  he  had  studied  him  very  closely.  And  although  Dr. 
Storrs  may  not  have  been  so  much  in  his  society,  yet  evidently 
he  knew  the  man,  and  knew  him  perfectly ;  and  he  has  de- 
scribed him  fully  and  justly.  I  knew  Dr.  Prime  during  the  last 
thirty  years  of  his  life.  I  came  here  thirty  years  ago.  I  came 
to  do  just  such  a  work  as  he  has  been  doing,  —  editing  a  news- 
paper. We  were  of  different  denominations,  but  very  soon 
after  I  came  I  was  introduced  to  him,  and  the  acquaintance 
ripened  into  friendship,  and  the  friendship  into  intimacy,  and 
that  into  what  was  nothing  less  than  a  confidential  friendship. 
And  one  of  the  things  that  I  prize  more  than  I  can  tell  to-night 
is  that  I  had  such  a  friendship  and  such  an  acquaintance  and 
such  a  sympathy  with  a  man  so  admirable  as  was  Dr.  Prime. 

"  He  was  one  of  the  manliest  of  men,  sincere  and  true  and 
noble.  All  his  aims  were  noble.  If  there  was  anything  in  him 
that  was  crooked,  anything  that  was  deceitful,  I  never  saw  it  or 
had  a  mistrust  of  it.  He  was  frank  to  the  last  degree,  with  a 
frankness  that  was  never  rude,  always  kind  and  true.     He  was 

23 


354  SAMUEL   IREN^US   PRIME. 

a  genuine  man.  And  one  of  the  sources  of  his  power,  as  I 
believe,  was  that  he  was  always  satisfied  to  be  himself.  He 
never  sought  to  be  anybody  else.  He  knew  perfectly  that  he 
could  not  be  fashioned  by  any  possible  contrivance  into  a 
McCosh,  and  he  never  tried  to  be  a  McCosh.  He  could  no 
more  have  been  made  such  a  man  than  Dr.  McCosh  could 
have  been  made  an  Irenseus  Prime.  They  were  totally  differ- 
ent, and  each  was  admirable  in  his  way.  I  think  that  that 
trait  to  which  reference  has  been  made,  the  sunniness  of  Dr. 
Prime's  character  and  intercourse  with  men,  was  one  of  the 
most  delightful  sources  of  his  power. 

"  But  besides  being  a  manly  man,  he  was  one  of  the  truest  of 
Christian  men.  His  religion  was  his  controlling  power.  His 
religion  was  of  a  stamp  that  had  not  much  to  do  with  the  length 
of  his  face  or  the  tones  of  his  voice.  It  had  its  seat  in  his  con- 
sciousness and  in  his  heart,  and  the  thing  that  regulated  that 
consciousness  and  the  affections  of  that  heart  was  the  Christian- 
ity that  he  believed  in  as  he  believed  in  his  own  salvation.  Pie 
was  a  genuine  Christian  man.  And  he  was  not  the  kind  of 
Christian  that  tliinks  every  other  denomination  on  the  earth  is 
just  as  good  as  the  one  that  he  belongs  to.  He  was  too  much 
of  a  man  to  admit  any  such  thing  as  that.  He  was  a  Presbyte- 
rian by  choice  and  by  conviction,  and  he  could  not  have  been 
anything  else  than  a  Presbyterian.  But  while  he  was  a  devout 
and  sincere  Presbyterian,  he  was  one  of  the  most  catholic  of 
men  so  far  as  other  men's  religious  opinions  were  concerned. 
He  believed  that  every  other  man  had  the  same  right  to  his 
choice  as  he  himself  had.  He  and  I  often  differed,  but  never  in 
a  single  instance,  either  in  the  papers  or  in  conversation,  was 
there  a  word  uttered  that  marred  the  friendship  and  the  love 
and  the  confidence  and  the  intimacy  on  either  side.  He  was 
just  as  willing  I  should  be  a  Baptist  as  I  was  he  should  be  a 
Presbyterian,  and  we  agreed  to  differ.  And  we  loved  each 
other,  not  because  he  was  what  he  was  in  that  respect,  or  I 
what  I  was,  but  because  we  both  believed  and  delighted  in  the 


DEATH   AND   COMMEMORATION.  355 

great  fundamental  truths  of  the  gospel  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
No  man  was  truer  to  an  honest  interpretation  of  God's  Book, 
with  reference  to  those  great  fundamental  truths,  than  Dr.  Prime. 
He  did  not  know  much  about  anything  relating  to  any  other 
theology,  or  any  other  theory,  than  that  which  he  found  in  that 
Book,  the  blessed  Word  of  God,  — the  atonement  of  Jesus  Christ 
in  its  sacrificial  and  vicarious  character,  the  work  of  the  Spirit 
in  renovating  the  heart,  and  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures. 
Those  great  and  fundamental  truths  which  lie  at  the  very  basis 
of  our  Christianity  no  man  honored  in  his  heart  and  in  his  words 
and  in  his  life  more  than  Dr.  Prime. 

"  I  agree  with  Dr.  Storrs  heartily  when  he  says  that  Dr.  Prime 
had  by  instinct  —  by  predestination  if  you  please  —  the  qualities 
of  the  best  class  of  editors.  He  was  in  a  certain  respect  a  great 
editor,  and  he  made  the  '  Observer '  a  great  paper.  But  the  man 
could  never  have  read  his  letters,  his  '  Irenaeus  Letters,'  never 
have  known  anything  about  him  socially  and  personally,  who  did 
not  say  the  '  Observer  '  was  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  filled 
with  his  own  personality  and  spirit.  If  there  is  a  personal  jour- 
nal or  has  been  a  personal  journal  anywhere  within  the  last  forty 
years,  it  is  the  '  New  York  Observer.'  It  has  been  Dr.  Prime 
from  the  beginning  to  the  end.  And  what  a  power  it  has  ex- 
erted !  Probably  the  '  New  York  Observer  '  has  had  a  hundred 
thousand  readers  every  week  for  the  last  forty  years,  and  the 
reading  has  been  done  in  all  the  nations  of  the  earth.  Esti- 
mate, if  you  can,  the  influence  of  such  a  man  that  sends  forth 
once  a  week  his  best  thoughts,  his  best  feelings,  his  best  aspira- 
tions into  so  many  thousand  families.  What  a  congregation  ! 
And  yet  he  did  this  with  an  enthusiasm  that  was  as  warm  and 
as  sunny  in  the  last  year  of  his  life  as  it  ever  had  been.  He 
was  one  of  the  sunniest  men  that  I  ever  knew.  I  have  met 
him  in  social  life,  in  religious  life,  in  editorial  life,  and  I  can  say 
with  the  utmost  sincerity,  as  Dr.  Storrs  has  said,  I  never  lost  a 
friend  regarding  whom  I  found  it  more  difficult  to  convince  my- 
self that  he  was  dead  than  Dr.  Prime.     I  went  into  the  office  of 


356  SAMUEL  IRENi^US   PRIME. 

the  '  Observer  '  two  or  three  clays  ago,  and  I  was  possessed  with 
the  idea  of  his  presence.  There  was  something  that  said  to  me, 
'  Dr  Prime  is  here  ;  I  shall  see  him.'  And  go  where  I  will  and 
tliink  of  him  as  1  may,  I  cannot  think  of  him  as  one  that  is 
dead.  But  he  is  gone.  He  lived  to  see  the  sunny  side  of  seven- 
ty, the  side  on  which  the  New  Jerusalem  is,  the  haven  of  eternal 
rest ;  the  side  on  which  the  church  of  the  first  born  is  ;  the  side 
on  which  Jerusalem  the  golden  is,  as  is  expressed  in  what  was 
his  favorite  hymn ;  and  it  was  a  Jerusalem  to  which  he  could 
say,  in  the  language  of  that  hymn  :  '  I  hope  for  thee,  I  wish  for 
thee,  I  sigh  for  thee.'  And  he  is  there  to-night,  enjoying  all  that 
he  hoped  for,  all  that  he  wished  for,  all  that  he  sighed  for. 
And  I  presume  there  are  a  great  many  of  us  here  to-night  that 
expect  to  meet  him  there,  that  expect  to  know  him  there,  that 
expect  to  enjoy  more  together  there  than  we  could  have 
enjoyed  here.  I  should  be  sorry  to  believe  that  I  should  not 
know  and  hold  communion  sweet  and  loving  with  Dr.  Prime 
in  heaven." 

The  Rev.  James  M.  Buckley,  D.D.,  editor  of  the 
"  Christian  Advocate,"  then  spoke  as  follows :  — 

"We  are  not  here  to  bury  Dr.  Prime,  but  to  praise  him, — 
nevertheless  in  the  spirit  of  him  who  said, '  He  was  a  faithful  man, 
and  one  that  feared  God  above  many.'  Dr.  Prime  has  given  the 
secret  of  his  own  life  in  a  very  few  words.  He  says  :  •  Nearly 
forty  years  ago  I  stumbled  on  a  sentence  by  F'erguson,  that 
"  the  lustre  whicli  a  man  casts  about  him  is  like  the  flame  of 
a  meteor,  which  shines  only  while  its  motion  continues.  The 
moments  of  rest  and  obscurity  are  the  same."  '  This,  I  fancy, 
is  the  passage  to  which  Dr.  Storrs  incidentally  referred  ;  and  on 
this  Dr.  Prime  observes  :  '  That  made  a  deep  impression  on  m)- 
mind.  I  copied  it  out ;  I  committed  it  to  memory.'  And  he  then 
says  that  he  deduced  from  it  two  principles.  In  his  own  language 
these  were  :  '  first,  Rest  and  Obscurity  arc  twins  ;  and  second,  in 


DEATH   AND    COMMEMORATION.  357 

this  day  of  all  days  unceasing  labor  is  the  price  of  success.'  And 
from  these  two  principles,  he  says,  he  deduced  two  rules,  —  in  his 
own  language  :  '  no  day  without  something  learned  ;  no  day  with- 
out something  done.'  Yet  were  this  the  only  secret  of  his  life,  he 
might  have  been  as  learned  and  as  selfish  as  Voltaire. 

"  I  suppose  most  of  this  assembly  were,  in  a  certain  sense, 
his  personal  friends.  It  is  not  necessary  to  know  a  man's  face 
to  be  his  friend.  It  is  possible  to  love  a  man  whom  one  never 
saw.  So,  I  say,  I  assume  that  the  youngest  and  the  oldest  and 
all  between  are  conscious  of  a  peculiar  friendship  for  Dr.  Prime. 
And  most  of  us  have  read  his  '  Letters.'  I  read  them  from  my  boy- 
hood. I  know  hundreds  of  them ;  and  the  sweetest  of  them  is 
that  one  entitled,  '  Strawberries  and  Cream ;  or  The  Blessings 
of  Giving  and  Receiving  Compared.'  In  that  letter  he  says  that 
twenty  years  ago,  in  his  country  place  up  the  Hudson,  not  far 
from  this  city,  he  had  a  number  of  friends  at  dinner,  and  they 
had  strawberries  of  his  own  raising ;  and,  said  Dr.  Prime  : 
'Their  size  excited  the  admiration  of  the  party.  Some  one  ob- 
served that  he  had  seen  strawberries  so  large  they  could  not  be 
made  to  pass  through  a  napkin  ring.  The  experiment  was  made 
and  every  one  had  strawberries  before  him  that  would  lie  quiet- 
ly on  the  top  of  the  ring.  Then  the  conversation  turned  to  the 
prolific  qualities  of  the  vine,  and  one  stated  that  a  single  root 
had  been  known  to  produce  three  hundred  berries.  This  was 
quite  as  surprising  as  the  size  of  the  strawberries,  and  by  and 
by  we  made  a  personal  visitation  of  the  garden  and  found  plenty 
of  vines  with  more  than  three  hundred  berries  on  a  single  root. 
Thus  in  size  and  number  these  equalled  anything  hitherto  re- 
ported. 

"  '  Among  my  guests,'  he  says,  '  was  a  newspaper  man,  who 
made  a  note  of  what  he  saw  and  printed  it.  The  story  was 
deemed  incredible.  A  pastor  in  the  West  was  so  shocked  by 
the  exaggeration,  as  he  considered  it,  that  he  caused  to  be  pub- 
lished an  offer  to  supply  the  Synod  of  Ohio  with  plants  if  I 
would  send  him  some  specimens  and  they  produced  such  fruits. 


3S8  SAMUEL  IRENi^US    PRIME, 

In  response  to  this  challenge  I  made  the  public  offer  to  send 
by  mail,  postpaid,  and  without  any  charge,  specimens  of  the 
plants  to  every  person  in  the  United  States  who  would  send  me 
his  post-office  address!'  And  he  says  :  '  Including  what  plants 
were  sent  for  by  neighbors  and  friends  and  taken  away  person- 
ally, it  was  calculated  that  we  gave  away  in  the  course  of  the 
month  of  August  more  than  three  thousand  strawberry-plants. 
Twenty  years  ago  those  plants  went  into  the  rural  regions  of 
this  wide  country.  And  from  that  time  to  this  they  have  glad- 
dened more  families  than  I  shall  ever  hear  of. 

"  '  And  now,'  he  states,  with  an  inimitable  touch  of  pathos, 
'  in  the  strawberry  season  every  year  there  is  an  hour  each  day 
when  ...  in  quiet  thought  I  go  from  one  end  of  the  country  to 
the  other,  and  unseen  by  them  I  sit  by  the  board  of  those  good 
people  who  sent  me  their  names,  and  as  they  pour  the  rich 
cream  over  those  big,  salmon-tinted,  oval,  luscious  strawberries, 
I  have  not  a  doubt  that  I  enjoy  the  dessert  more  than  they  do. 
You  say  that  it  is  a  boasting,  egotistical  story.  Well,  I  can 
stand  tliat.  I  have  been  telling  you  how  I  made  a  vast  sum  of 
personal  enjoyment  by  the  expenditure  twenty  years  ago  of  less 
than  ten  dollars.  I  never  made  so  profitable  and  paying  an 
investment  in  all  my  life.  And  the  income  it  yields  is  in  har- 
mony with  religion,  philosophy,  history,  and  the  personal  ex- 
perience of  every  one  who  has  tried  the  experiment.' 

"  Now,  these  were  the  two  secrets  of  his  life  :  the  superior 
blessedness  of  giving  over  receiving ;  no  day  without  some- 
thing learned,  no  day  without  something  done. 

"  I  must  be  permitted  to  say  that  even  after  all  that  Dr. 
Storrs  and  Dr.  Bright  have  said,  there  is  a  vast  field  left  for  me 
that  neither  of  those  gentlemen  has  touched,  —  the  whole  field 
of  Dr.  Prime's  educational  and  philanthropic  work  outside  of 
his  editorial  work.  Just  look  at  some  of  his  books.  When 
Allibone's  '  Dictionary  of  Authors  '  came  out  some  years  ago, 
I  purchased  a  copy.  It  was  very  natural  for  me  to  read  the 
sketches  of  those  men  I  knew,  and  of  those  whose  works  I  had 


DEATH   AND    COMMEMORATION.  359 

read.  I  read  in  one  of  the  volumes  a  notice  of  Dr.  Prime. 
Lately  I  looked  it  up,  and  there  I  found  I  had  marked  it  with 
an  interrogation-point.  The  passage  marked  was  this  :  '  Dr. 
Prime  has  published  twenty-five  volumes  anonymously,  besides 
the  large  number  to  which  his  name  is  given.'  I  knew  he  had 
published  a  number  of  volumes  with  his  name.  Now,  I 
thought,  is  it  possible  that  he  could  have  published  so  many 
more  of  which  I  had  never  heard?  His  works  may  be  divided 
into  two  general  divisions,  the  educational  and  the  philanthrop- 
ical.  The  memorial  read  by  Dr.  Schaff  refers  to  some  of  them. 
When  Dr.  Prime  published  his  two  volumes  containing  his 
'  Travels  in  Europe  and  the  East,'  in  1855,  "o^  every  person 
had  been  to  Europe,  and  those  books  were  widely  circulated, 
and  very  instructive ;  and  as  just  a  critic  as  Dr.  Peabody,  in 
the  '  North  American  Review,'  declared  them  to  be  very  valu- 
able as  a  picture  of  the  existing  state  of  affairs,  and  as  a  faithful 
record  of  travel.  'The  Bible  in  the' Levant'  attracted  great 
attention,  and  gave  to  the  entire  Christian  public  a  full  account 
of  the  wondferful  work  of  God  in  that  part  of  the  world. 

"Then  there  was  one  book  I  read  in  my  early  manhood,  — 
the  memoirs  of  a  man  the  like  of  whom  we  have  never  had  in 
this  country,  the  Rev.  Nicholas  Murray,  the  inimitable  '  Kir- 
wan.'  He  was  a  unique  man ;  he  had  no  parallel.  That  book 
was  one  of  the  most  instructive  biographies  ever  written.  There 
is  a  gentleman  in  this  city  who  has  systematically  read  it 
through  once  every  year  since  he  first  possessed  himself  of  it, 
because,  he  says,  it  contains  a  system  of  principles  by  which  a 
man  can  read  human  nature.  He  is  not  a  minister,  or  a  pro- 
fessor, or  a  lawyer,  but  a  banker ;  not  a  Presbyterian,  but  a 
member  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church.  He  made  the 
remark  incidentally  to  a  member  of  the  Evangelical  AlUance. 

"  Take  another  book,  '  Anderson's  Annals  of  the  English 
Bible,  Abridged  and  Continued,'  published  by  the  Carters  of 
this  city.  That  book  received  the  compliment  of  being  made 
a  basis  of  discussion  by  an  eminent  Unitarian  clergyman  of  this 


360  SAMUEL    IREN/liUS    PRIME. 

city.  Of  tlic  other  books  in  the  educational  division  I  will 
mention  only  one,  '  Songs  of  the  Soul.'  1  became  acquainted 
with  it  in  a  peculiar  way.  The  denomination  with  which  I  am 
connected  undertook  to  revise  its  hymnal,  and  I  was  one  of  the 
Committee  of  Revision.  They  gave  us  no  compensation,  ex- 
cept the  experience,  and  the  privilege  of  buying  all  the  books 
we  wanted.  We  acquired  a  magnificent  collection  oT  hym- 
nology.  A  committee  was  appointed  to  secure  the  books  that 
were  necessary,  and  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  I  saw  a  copy  of 
the  '  Songs  of  the  Soul.'  1  read  it  through ;  and  there  are 
thirty-fi\-e  hymns  in  the  hymnal  of  our  church  which  were  read 
to  the  committee  from  this  book  during  the  process  of  revision, 
and  it  is  worthy  of  the  explanatory  statement  which  it  contains  : 
'  Gathered  from  many  lands  and  many  ages.' 

"  Now  take  some  of  the  philanthropic  books.  John  G.  Whit- 
tier  has  lately  complained  that  though  he  has  had  a  vast  amount 
of  commendation  for  his  poetry,  he  is  sorry  that  all  the  com- 
mendation has  rested  upon  non-moral  and  non-religious  poems, 
and  he  asks  why  this  is.  And  recently  I  saw  a  paragraph  in 
the  '  London  Christian  ^^'orld '  referring  to  ^^'hittier  and  Ray 
Palmer,  and  the  editor  says  :  •'  It  would  be  easy,  indeed,  to 
show  from  Milton  and  Wordsworth  and  many  other  poets  that 
the  poetic  muse  can  draw  from  Hermon  as  well  as  from  classic 
hills  and  founts.'  Now  Dr.  Prime's  works,  many  of  them,  had 
titles  that  would  bring  tears  to  the  eyes  :  '  Elizabeth  Thorn- 
ton, the  Flower  and  Fruit  of  Early  Piety,  published  that  fhe 
young  may  emulate  it  ;  '  '  The  Prodigal  Reclaimed,  published 
as  a  warning  and  as  an  encouragement  for  such  as  have  fallen 
away  ; '  and  then  the  inimitable  litUe  book  having  the  name  of 
'  The  Little  Burnt  Girl.'  I  will  speak  of  one  more  that  goes 
back  to  a  time  that  most  of  us  can  remember  ;  for  an  occasion 
like  this  brings  not  many  of  the  young,  though  it  is  pleasant  to 
see  so  many  who  are  young  here  to-night.  It  had  a  peculiar  title  : 
'  Bosses  and  their  Boys,  or  the  Duties  of  Masters  and  their 
Apprentices.'      It  takes  us  back  to  the  time  when  a  young  man 


DEATH   AND   COMMEMORATION.  361 

learned  a  trade  living  in  his  master's  house,  superintended  by 
his  master,  who  was  oftentimes  faithful  to  his  moral  interests,  re- 
minding us  of  the  saying  :  '  He  that  delicately  bringeth  up  his 
servant  from  a  child  shall  have  him  become  his  son  at  the 
length.'  In  this  book  Dr.  Prime  speaks  of  the  reciprocal  rela- 
tions of  masters  and  apprentices,  and  of  the  advantages  to  boys 
of  apprenticeships,  which  he  declared  to  be  a  most  excellent 
relation.  '  The  Power  of  Prayer  '  was  also  alluded  to  in  the 
memorial  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  —  a  work  that  was  trans- 
lated into  Dutch  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  into  the  East 
India  tongues,  published  in  French  in  Paris,  published  in  Lon- 
don, reaching  a  circulation  of  two  hundred  thousand  copies,  — ■ 
a  book  that  may  be  called  a  nexus  between  the  educational  and 
the  philanthropic. 

"  Now  let  us  look  at  the  positions  Dr.  Prime  occupied.  He 
was  for  a  time  corresponding  secretary  of  the  American  Bible 
Society,  and  also  an  active  director  of  it  to  the  very  last.  He 
was  vice-president  and  an  active  director  of  the  American  Tract 
Society,  He  occupied  a  similar  position  in  the  American  and 
Foreign  Christian  Union.  At  one  time  he  was  president  of  the 
Society  for  the  Advancement  of  Science  and  Art,  in  this  city. 
He  was  also  an  ex-president  and  trustee  of  the  Wells  College 
for  Women.  He  was  a  trustee  of  his  Alma  Mater,  Williams 
College.  But  a  few  days  before  his  death  he  attenc^d  a  meet- 
ing of  the  trustees  of  that  college,  little  knowing  that  the  place 
where  'the  golden  bowl  was  broken  and  the  silver  cord  was 
loosed  '  was  so  near. 

"  Now,  there  are  many  men  who  have  been  connected  with  as 
many  institutions  as  Dr.  Prime.  Some  owe  their  positions  en- 
tirely to  their  wealth,  some  to  their  personal  popularity,  some  to 
the  compliments  bestowed  upon  them  by  their  friends,  and  some 
to  the  mere  suggestion  that  their  names  were  desirable  because 
conspicuously  before  the  public.  Now,  of  those  men  who  be- 
long to  so  many  organizations,  some  never  attend.  They  have 
accepted  the  honor,  but  have  discharged  none  of  the  responsi- 


362  samueL  iren^us  prime. 

bilities.  In  the  next  place,  some  seldom  attend.  Again,  there 
are  those  who  always  arrive  late  and  leave  early,  and  never  serve 
on  sub-committees,  where  most  of  the  work  is  done.  Besides, 
there  are  persons  who,  though  always  present,  never  show  any 
interest  in  the  transactions  unless  there  be  a  disturbance  or  a 
sharp  debate ;  and  happy  is  that  Board,  whether  charitable, 
educational,  or  financial,  that  has  not  upon  it  some  persons  who 
are  always  present  and  always  speak  and  always  introduce  wit, 
whether,  to  use  Addison's  distinction,  *  true,  false,  or  mixed,' 
to  the  great  distraction  of  business,  but  never  add  anything  at 
all  to  counsel.  '  If  they  seem,'  to  quote  from  Saint  Paul,  •'  to  be 
somewhat,  they  add  nothing  in  counsel'  Now,  does  any  one 
ask  to  which  of  these  classes  Dr.  Prime  belonged  ?  To  none  of 
tliem.  He  was  always  present  except  when  ill,  and  frequently 
present  when  most  others  would  have  fancied  themselves  too  ill 
to  leave  home.  He  attended  strictly  to  the  business,  listened 
to  all  parts  of  it,  served  upon  sub-committees,  and  discharged 
detail  work  accurately,  fully,  and  promptly.  He  spoke  often, 
but  he  spoke  to  the  point.  He  has  a  curious  passage  in  one  of 
his  letters  which  just  occurs  to  me  now,  and  I  may  not  quote  it 
accurately  :  •  The  man  who  says  that  if  he  never  did  a  great 
thing  he  is  sure  he  never  did  a  long  one  is  my  ideal.  —  the  man 
for  speech  and  action,  short,  sharp,  and  decisive.'  So  it  was 
with  Dr.  Prime  when  he  spoke.  He  attended  all  those  meet- 
ings and  always  seemed  to  have  plenty  of  leisure.  I  can  speak 
of  an  acquaintance  with  Dr.  Prime  of  a  quarter  of  a  century  ; 
and  when  I  have  seen  him  punctually  in  his  ofifice,  coming  early 
and  going  late,  when  I  have  gone  into  the  '  Obser\'er '  office  and 
he  has  wheeled  around  ready  to  converse  for  half  an  hour,  and 
an  hour  if  necessary,  I  have  wondered  how  it  could  be. 
One  of  tlie  assistant-editors  told  me  that  the  only  real  trial  to 
Dr.  Prime  was  that  the  '  Observer '  was  not  published  twice 
every  week,  for  he  could  not  get  rid  of  the  plethora  of  copy  he 
prepared.  How  he  did  it  I  cannot  tell.  He  was  an  astonishing 
man  in  all  these  respects. 


DEATH   AND   COMMEMORATION.  363 

"  And  now  let  me  speak  of  one  other  kind  of  educational  and 
philanthropic  work  that  grew  out  of  the  editorial  position. 
Every  mail  brings  to  an  editor  from  three  to  twenty  letters 
asking  for  advice,  or  money,  or  sympathy.  I  have  answered, 
with  two  stenographers,  sixty  such  letters  in  one  week ;  but  of 
this  I  am  sure,  that  a  few  years'  experience  could  not  have  pre- 
pared him  to  do  what  I  know  on  the  best  authority  Dr.  Prime 
did.  He  answered  every  one  of  those  letters  with  his  own 
hand,  —  the  same  hand  that  wrote  so  much  copy  for  the  paper^ 
and  that  wrote  those  forty  or  fifty  volumes.  Though  he  did  not 
avail  himself  of  type-writers  and  stenographers,  he  answered 
every  one  of  those  letters,  and  gave  away  hundreds  and  hun- 
dreds of  dollars  in  them.  The  educational  work  he  did  in  those 
letters  was  great,  for  1  have  seen  a  letter  of  his,  —  not  in  prepa- 
ration for  this  address,  but  shown  to  me  years  ago  by  the  person 
who  received  it,  —  in  which,  through  sixteen  pages,  he  showed 
a  young  man  what  a  preacher  is,  and  tried  to  guide  him  in 
preparation  for  the  holy  ministry,  and  advised  him  not  to  join 
the  Presbyterian  Church,  because  he  was  convinced  from  some 
things  he  said  there  were  some  churches  with  which  he  would 
be  in  greater  unity  and  sympathy. 

"  But  I  must  not  proceed  farther  with  these  observations.  I 
will  conclude  what  I  have  to  say  by  observing  that  there  are 
four  kinds  of  human  activity  for  which  a  man  must  have  a  nat- 
ural preparation  :  music,  and  the  sculptor's  art,  and  the  paint- 
er's art,  —  these  three,  —  and  the  highest  forms  of  oratory.  For 
these  most  successful  men  have  a  natural  preparation.  But 
leaving  these  four  out  of  the  account,  the  same  faculties  are 
used  in  science,  the  same  faculties  in  business  and  finance,  and 
in  the  duties  of  the  theological  professor  or  the  investigator. 
That  Dr.  Prime  was  predestinated  to  be  an  editor  I  do  most 
firmly  believe,  because  he  was  one,  and  I  also  most  firmly  be- 
lieve that  he  had  the  qualities  and  the  faculties  necessary  to 
make  an  editor.  But  had  he  never  left  the  ministry,  we  have 
the  authority  of  Dr.  Storrs  for  believing  that,  notwithstanding  his 


364  SAMUEL   IREN.€US    PRIME. 

predestination  to  tlie  editorship,  he  would  have  attained  equal 
rank  as  a  minister.  Had  he  been  a  teacher,  a  compiler  of 
books,  a  church  historian,  or  anything  else,  —  or  even  a  meta- 
physician, —  he  had  those  common  faculties,  and  he  was  a 
whole  man  at  everything  he  undertook.  Therefore  he  was  a 
nucleus  of  life  and  warmth,  as  well  as  of  adherence.  We  have  in 
all  bodies  nuclei  of  adherence,  but  he  was  one  of  life  and 
warmth.  He  was  a  centre  of  nervous,  spiritual,  social,  intellect- 
ual and  moral  energy ;  and  therefore  he  was  a  nourisher  and  a 
stimulator  of  all  good  things. 

"  I  met  an  Englishman  at  the  conference  of  the  Evangelical 
Alliance  many  years  ago  held  in  this  city.  Dr.  Wendell  Prime 
did  me  the  honor  to  invite  me  to  ride  with  him  while  he  was 
showing  this  gentleman  and  many  others  the  city  of  Brooklyn. 
We  took  them  all  over  the  city, —  to  Greenwood,  Prospect 
Park,  and  everything  else  we  had  to  show.  The  Englishman 
said  to  me  :  — 

•' '  Dr.  Prime  is  an  extraordinary  man.  I  have  met  him  in 
Rome,  Jerusalem,  London,  Paris,  and  now  I  have  met  him  here 
in  New  York ;  and  it  seemed  to  me  on  each  occasion  as  if  I 
had  not  been  separated  from  him  at  all.  He  has  a  grand  sym- 
pathy and  community  of  soul,  that  draws  your  soul  into  him, 
and  his  soul  seems  to  come  into  you.  Happy,'  said  he,  '  the 
denomination,  the  church,  the  city,  that  possesses  such  a  man.' 
And  then,  as  though  he  thought  he  ought  to  pay  a  compliment 
to  our  institutions,  'Happy,'  said  he,  'are  the  people  that  have 
institutions  that  could  produce  such  a  man.' 

"  And  this  was  all  in  harmony  with  plain  common-sense. 
Dr.  Prime  was  the  best  type  of  the  past  generation  modified 
by  all  that  is  good  in  the  present  generation.  He  had  the 
power  of  growing  old  gracefully,  and  of  being  in  the  front  at 
the  last.  I  called  upon  him  once  to  ask  him  if  he  would  name 
half  a  dozen  hymns  that  ought  to  go  in  our  hymnal.  Said  I, 
'  Give  me  half  a  dozen  hymns  that  in  your  opinion  ought  to 
be  in  every  hymnal.'     And  this  was  one  :  — 


DEATH   AND   COMMEMORATION.  365 

"  '  Earth's  transitory  things  decay; 
Its  pomps,  its  pleasures  pass  away; 
But  the  sweet  memory  of  the  good 
Survives  in  the  vicissitude. 

*' '  As  'mid  the  ever-rolling  sea, 
The  eternal  isles  established  be, 
'Gainst  which  the  surges  of  the  main 
Fret,  dash,  and  break  themselves  in  vain  ; 

*'  'As,  in  the  heavens,  the  urns  divine 
Of  golden  light  forever  shine, — 
Though  clouds  may  darken,  storms  may  rage, 
They  still  shine  on  from  age  to  age, — 

"  '  So,  through  the  ocean-tide  of  years, 
The  memory  of  the  just  appears  ; 
So,  through  the  tempest  and  the  gloom, 
The  good  man's  virtues  light  the  tomb.'  " 

And  to-night  I  am  here  to  say  that  that  hymn  is  his  true,  appro- 
priate requiem." 

The  chairman,  in  bringing  the  proceedings  to  a  close, 
requested  the  assembly  to  unite  in  singing  three  stanzas 
of  the  hymn  "  Jerusalem  the  Golden,"  after  which  the 
Rev.  Edward  B.  Coe,  D.  D.,  invoked  the  benediction. 


CHARACTER  AND    LIFE-WORK  OF    DR.  S.  IREN^US 

PRIME. 

By  Talbot  W.  Chambers,  D.D. 

TriAT  few  men  in  the  ministry  or  in  the  editorial 
profession  were  so  widely  or  so  favorably  known 
throughout  the  country  as  our  friend  is  apparent  from 
the   general   expression   of  regret  and    sympathy  with 


^66  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS    PRIME. 

which  the  news  of  his  death  was  received  in  all  quar- 
ters, and  even  by  many  who  had  never  seen  his  face  in 
the  flesh.  This  was  due  partly  to  his  natural  character- 
istics, partly  to  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  his  career. 
The  first  time  I  ever  saw  him  was  in  the  year  1848  or 
1849,  when  he  was  one  of  the  secretaries  of  the  Ameri- 
can Bible  Society,  and  from  that  day  to  the  present  he 
has  been  a  conspicuous  figure  in  the  eye  of  the  Chris- 
tian public.  Books,  letters,  editorials,  journeys  at  home 
and  abroad,  and  his  residence  at  or  near  the  metropolis, 
together  with  his  public  spirit  and  his  readiness  for 
every  good  word  and  work,  brought  him  into  contact 
with  all  the  movements  of  the  time  and  made  him  a 
prominent  factor  in  the  onward  march  of  events. 

What,  now,  were  the  salient  features  of  his  character? 
He  was  not,  in  the  common  acceptation  of  the  phrase, 
"  a  self-made  man."  On  the  contrary,  he  received  a  care- 
ful and  liberal  education,  first  in  his  father's  house,  and 
afterwards  at  Williams  College  and  in  the  Theological 
Seminary  at  Princeton.  He  was  a  diligent  student,  not 
only  of  books,  but  also  of  men  and  things,  and  often  in 
later  years  he  reminded  me  of  what  the  late  Dr.  T.  H. 
Skinner  said  of  Henry  B.  Smith,  "  he  had  more  usable 
knowledge  than  any  man  I  ever  knew."  His  insight 
was  keen  and  his  memory  retentive,  and  he  knew  how 
to  lay  up  stores  for  unforeseen  emergencies.  His  cult- 
ure, if  not  deep,  was  broad,  and  whatever  was  lost  for 
lack  of  specific  devotion  to  a  single  subject  was  com- 
pensated by  the  width  of  his  outlook  and  his  general 
grasp  of  the  field  of  knowledge  in  its  outlines.  His 
power  of  application  was  very  great,  and  his  mind 
worked  easily  and  readily.  Writing,  which  to  many 
men  is  a  labor,  even  in  the  case  of  some  who  have  had 


DEATH   AND   COMMEMORATION,  ^^6^ 

years  upon  years  of  experience,  to  him  was  rather 
pleasure  than  toil.  He  set  about  it  without  reluctance 
and  finished  it  without  weariness.  He  did  not  need  to 
pump  from  a  deep  well;  the  spring  burst  forth  of  its 
own  accord.  When  he  turned  his  attention  to  a  topic, 
his  thoughts,  apparently  without  an  effort  on  his  part, 
took  shape  and  arranged  themselves  in  a  natural  order 
of  development.  All  he  had  to  do  was  to  clothe  them 
in  appropriate  words.  This  he  did  with  facility  and 
rapidity,  and,  strange  to  say,  with  exceeding  accuracy, 
so  that  often  in  a  score  of  pages  there  would  be  no 
need,  on  a  careful  review,  of  erasing  a  single  word. 
Unhke  most  persons  he  could  do  his  best  at  first.  In 
this  way  one  can  account  for  the  enormous  amount  of 
literary  composition  accomplished  by  him  in  the  course 
of  his  life  and  for  its  general  excellence.  It  was  not 
task-work,  wrought  under  whip  and  spur  when  the  mind 
was  jaded,  but  rather,  to  use  Bacon's  metaphor,  the  first 
flowing  of  the  grapes  when  subjected  to  gentle  pressure. 
He  turned  the  spigot,  and  the  stream  ran.  Nor  was 
it  thin  and  watery.  He  wrote  because  he  had  some- 
thing to  say,  and  he  said  it  always  with  perspicuity, 
and  sometimes  with  uncommon  weight  and  force.  No 
rhetorical  ornaments  were  sought  for,  but  the  reliance 
was  upon  the  truth  and  appropriateness  of  the  senti- 
ment and  the  directness  with  which  it  was  conveyed. 

Closely  allied  with  this  power  of  productive  work  was 
the  natural  vivacity  of  his  spirit.  If  ever  a  man  knew 
experimentally  the  difference  between  work  and  worry 
it  was  he.  Trials  and  perplexities  of  various  kinds 
befell  him,  as  they  are  sure  to  befall  any  one  in  such 
relations  as  he  held,  but  none  of  them  were  able  to  clog 
his   steps    or    impair    his    habitual    cheerfulness.       He 


368  SAMUEL  IREN^US   PRIME. 

seemed  to  rise  above  them  as  if  by  an  elastic  bound, 
and  move  at  once  in  a  serene  and  cloudless  atmosphere. 
Nature  and  grace  concurred  to  produce  this  happy  re- 
sult. His  sunny  temperament  inclined  him  to  look 
upon  the  bright  side  of  every  matter,  and  his  steadfast 
faith  in  a  gracious  and  overruling  Providence  enabled 
him  always  to  see  the  silver  lining  behind  the  darkest 
cloud.  Nor  was  this  buoyancy  of  spirit  confined  only 
to  himself.  It  was  contagious,  and  often  helped  to 
lighten  the  burdens  of  others.  Dr.  Prime  had  a  rich 
vein  of  humor  and  an  inexhaustible  fund  of  incident 
and  anecdote.  Upon  these  he  drew  at  fitting  times  and 
places,  and  always  with  success.  Hence  the  head  of  an 
important  literary  institution  of  which  our  friend  was  a 
trustee,  said  of  him  after  his  death :  "  His  genial  sweet- 
ness and  his  consummate  tact,  in  how  many  ways  have 
I  seen  them  avert  disaster  and  confusion  in  matters  of 
great  delicacy  and  importance!  "  And  again:  "  In  the 
strife  of  tongues  how  much  his  wise  wit  seemed  able  to 
overcome  !  "  This  testimony  will  not  seem  strange  to 
any  who  have  mingled  in  social  or  ecclesiastical  circles 
with  him  to  whom  it  is  borne.  His  pleasantry  was  nat- 
ural, graceful,  and  without  a  sting.  He  laughed  with 
his  brethren,  not  at  them,  and  they  will  all  feel  that  this 
world  is  less  pleasant  since  he  was  taken  out  of  it. 

But  he  was  able,  according  to  the  apostolic  precept, 
not  only  to  rejoice  with  them  that  rejoice,  but  also  to 
weep  with  them  that  weep.  His  sympathy  with  the 
sorrowing  was  profound  and  tender  and  unaffected. 
He  entered  thoroughly  into  their  feelings,  and  was  af- 
flicted in  their  affliction.  Manifold  evidences  of  this 
are  seen  in  his  book  on  the  "  Death  of  Little  Children," 
his  occasional  writings,  and  the  "  Letters  "  with  which  all 


DEATH  AND   COMMEMORATION.  369 

readers  of  the  "  Observer"  are  familiar.  But  far  more 
are  hidden  in  the  private  records  of  individuals  and 
families,  not  only  in  his  immediate  neighborhood,  but 
through  a  wide  extent  of  country.  For  his  position 
and  his  character  made  him  the  receptacle  of  tales  of 
sorrow,  often  from  those  who  knew  him  only  by  repu- 
tation. Sometimes  these  were  accompanied  by  requests 
of  a  very  unreasonable  nature.  But  this  fact  did  not 
chill  his  sympathy  or  dam  the  current  of  his  charities. 
Calmly  putting  aside  the  absurd  or  extravagant,  he 
ministered  aid  as  it  lay  in  his  power,  and  never  withheld 
the  kind  words  which  do  good  like  a  medicine.  It  is 
easy  for  one  to  say  this,  but  only  those  who  have  had  a 
similar  experience  can  estimate  the  draft  thus  made  not 
only  on  his  purse,  but  upon  his  time,  his  hands,  his  feel- 
ings. Sometimes  it  is  harder  to  bear  others'  burdens 
than  our  .own.  Dr.  Prime,  as  minister  and  editor,  had 
more  than  his  share,  but  he  carried  the  load  as  few  men 
could,  and  he  did  it  uncomplainingly  and  meekly. 

He  was  a  man  of  public  spirit,  and  a  constant  friend 
of  the  great  religious  and  benevolent  and  educational 
institutions  of  the  age.  In  any  important  assemblage 
in  aid  of  such  objects  he  was  usually  seen  upon  the 
platform,  not  from  curiosity  or  a  love  of  display,  but 
from  a  genuine  interest  in  the  matter  in  hand.  His  zeal 
was  bounded  by  no  narrow  or  sectarian  lines ;  whether 
it  were  a  Bible  or  a  Tract  Society,  in  the  interest  of 
Home  Missions  or  of  Foreign,  for  a  college  or  a  sem- 
inary, for  the  Evangelical  Alliance  or  that  of  the  Re- 
formed Churches,  for  the  advancement  of  literature  or 
of  science  or  of  art,  he  was  ready  to  render  such  service 
as  lay  in  his  power.  And  his  position  often  enabled 
him  to  give  very  efficient  aid  both  by  his  voice  and  his 

24 


370  SAMUEL   IREN/EUS   PRIME. 

pen.  He  was  always  of  a  catholic  spirit,  and  although 
warmly  attached  to  the  evangelical  system  as  held  by 
the  church  in  which  he  was  reared  and  in  whose  com- 
munion his  whole  life  was  spent,  he  habitually  cherished 
a  hearty  sympathy  with  all  sister  churches.  And  this 
feeling  grew  with  his  advancing  years.  He  preferred 
to  see  points  of  agreement  rather  than  those  of  differ- 
ence, and  longed  for  the  closer  fellowship  of  all  who 
hold  the  Head.  Hence,  when  the  proposal  was  made 
to  reunite  the  dissevered  parts  of  the  Presbyterian 
Church,  North,  he  became  at  once  a  zealous  and  a  ju- 
dicious advocate  of  the  reunion ;  and  when  the  project 
was  consummated  no  man  rejoiced  more  heartily  than 
he.  So,  when  fraternal  relations  with  the  Southern 
church  were  restored,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mission which  met  the  Southern  Assembly  at  Lex- 
ington, Ky.  His  address  on  that  occasion  is  said 
by  one  who  was  present  to  have  been  of  great  power 
through  its  tenderness.  "  He  spoke  of  the  past  and 
conjured  up  its  sacred  memories  so  that  old  men  wept." 
It  was  the  eloquence  of  the  heart,  the  spontaneous 
utterance  of  deep-seated  convictions,  and  the  end  is 
not  yet. 

Dr.  Prime  was  a  vohmiinous  author.  His  published 
works  include  records  of  travel,  biographies,  sketches, 
collections  of  letters,  and  treatises  on  religious  or  Script- 
ural subjects,  some  of  which  were  translated  into  various 
languages  and  gained  a  very  wide  circulation.  All  of 
these  do  credit  to  his  industry  and  his  ability,  for  it  is 
not  an  ordinary  man  who  gives  forty  volumes  to  the 
press.  They  are  pleasing  and  wholesome,  nor  is  there 
in  one  of  them  a  line  which  the  author  would  now 
wish  to  blot.     But  his  chief  work  was  not  done  in  these, 


DEATH   AND   COMMEMORATION.  37 1 

nor  in  connection  with  any  of  the  important  institutions 
of  which  he  was  president  or  director  or  trustee  or 
fellow.  His  labors  in  such  directions,  although  neither 
few  nor  small,  were  incidental.  They  were  performed 
from  time  to  time  as  occasion  required,  and  then  ceased. 
They  have  left  their  mark  upon  the  frame-work  of 
Christian  society  in  this  country,  but  his  chief  life-work 
was  wrought  in  another  field. 

In  years  to  come  he  will  be  especially  remembered  as 
the  head  and  inspiring  genius  of  a  great  religious  news- 
paper, one  that  in  other  respects  as  well  as  years  leads 
the  rich  and  varied  column  of  religious  journals  in 
America,  one  that  has  remained  steadily  faithful  to  the 
evangelical  and  catholic  principles  upon  which  it  was 
founded,  and  has  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  its  way 
through  well-nigh  three-quarters  of  a  century.  The  in- 
fluence of  such  a  paper  is  not  easy  to  be  calculated.  It 
enters  the  family  and  becomes  a  household  friend.  It 
instructs  the  young,  and  inspires  and  comforts  the  old. 
It  forms  opinion  and  shapes  character.  Its  weekly 
visits  are  like  the  successive  drops  which,  although 
singly  of  small  importance,  by  dint  of  iteration  wear 
away  the  stone.  Alike  in  winter  and  summer,  in  the 
stately  mansion  and  the  rude  hamlet,  the  moulding 
process  goes  on.  They  who  have  no  books,  or  who,  if 
they  have  them,  shrink  from  the  task  of  taking  up  a 
volume,  yet  find  time  to  read  a  newspaper,  and  often  it 
is  the  only  pabulum  of  a  literary  kind  that  they  relish. 
The  field  of  a  religious  journal,  therefore,  especially  if 
it  be  widely  circulated,  is  immensely  important.  In  this 
field  Dr.  Prime  labored  for  five  and  forty  years,  and 
here  he  faithfully  exercised  all  his  gifts,  natural  and 
acquired. 


372  SAMUEL   IREN^US    PRIME. 

The  results  show  how  well  he  was  qualified  for  the 
work.  He  was  a  born  editor.  Not  only  in  leading 
articles  and  in  brief,  crisp  paragraphs,  but  also  in  all 
that  constitutes  the  make-up  of  a  newspaper  he  had  an 
indescribable  tact.  He  knew  what  to  insert,  and  also  — 
a  matter  equally  important  —  what  to  omit.  What  it 
did  not  suit  his  convenience  to  treat  himself  he  could 
procure  to  be  treated  by  others.  And  so  his  journal 
was  a  mirror  of  the  times,  as  seen  from  a  religious  point 
of  view.  It  was  faithful  to  the  truth  as  its  conductors 
saw  it,  and  yet  not  dogmatic  or  denunciatory.  It  stood 
upon  a  platform  like  that  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance, 
and  lent  its  powerful  aid  to  every  enterprise  conceived 
and  carried  on  in  that  spirit.  Against  Romanism,  form- 
alism, and  all  shapes  of  scepticism,  latent  or  avowed,  it 
was  aggressive  and  intolerant.  Its  readers  were  fortified 
against  insidious  errors,  and  yet  well  supplied  with  pos- 
itive truth  in  its  ethical  and  practical  aspects.  Dr. 
Prime's  long  experience  made  him  an  adept  in  every 
particular  of  editorial  management,  and  his  associates 
willingly  accepted  his  as  the  presiding  mind  of  the  es- 
tablishment. The  "  Observer,"  as  it  stands  to-day,  and 
as  it  has  stood  for  a  generation,  is  his  true  and  endur- 
ing monument,  bearing,  as  it  does,  in  every  feature  the 
impress  of  his  rich  and  versatile  genius.  He  made  it 
what  it  is.  He  not  only  preserved  the  aim  of  its  found- 
ers, but  carried  it  out  more  largely  and  in  more  varied 
directions,  so  that  its  position  and  what  it  stands  for  in 
metropolitan  journalism  arc  known  and  read  of  all 
men. 

But  besides  the  general  character  of  the  paper  as  an 
outspoken  champion  of  evangelical  truth,  it  had  a  pecu- 
liar and  characteristic  feature  in  the  "  Letters  of  Iren- 


DEATH    AND   COMMEMORATION.  373 

aeus,"  one  of  which  appeared  every  week.  They  treated 
of  every  imaginable  subject,  and  were  as  natural  and 
easy  and  graceful  as  the  actual  correspondence  of  a 
literary  man  with  his  personal  friends.  Unstudied  and 
artless,  written  seemingly  at  the  point  of  the  pen,  they 
yet  produced  the  effect  of  the  highest  art.  Sometimes 
they  instructed,  they  always  interested  and  pleased. 
Their  informal  character  allowed  the  writer  to  say  any- 
thing he  chose  within  the  bounds  of  good  sense  and 
good  taste,  —  bounds  which  he  never  transgressed,  — 
and  the  familiar  tone  and  skilful  touch  often  allured  the 
reader  like  one  of  Cowper's  matchless  epistles.  The 
result  was  to  establish  a  sort  of  relationship  between 
the  writer  and  his  varied  readers,  so  that  each  of  the 
latter  looked  upon  the  letter  as  if  it  were  addressed  to 
himself.  It  was  not  considered  as  a  proper  subject  for 
criticism  like  an  ordinary  editorial,  but  rather  as  a  free 
outpouring  of  friendly  feeling,  an  unstudied  expression 
of  sentiments,  such  as  a  man  makes  to  his  fellows  under 
the  seal  of  confidence.  In  this  view  they  were  eagerly 
welcomed  and  enjoyed,  and  I  doubt  not  that  there  are 
thousands  who  said,  as  did  a  lady  in  the  interior  whom 
I  informed  of  Dr.  Prime's  death  the  day  after  its  occur- 
rence: "Ah,  I  am  so  sorry;  now  we  shall  have  no 
more  of  the  letters  of  Irenseus."  Outpourings  of  the 
heart  go  to  the  heart,  and  Dr.  Prime  was  so  constituted 
that  he  could  reach  exactly  the  average  of  his  readers, 
going  neither  too  high  nor  too  low,  and  carrying  useful 
suggestions  in  a  simple  and  most  attractive  manner. 
Such  writing  seems  very  easy  to  the  inexperienced,  and 
yet  in  reality  the  ability  to  do  it  well  is  a  very  rare  gift. 
Careless  ease  is  the  last  attainment  of  a  writer.  Men 
who  could  prepare  a  very  weighty  paper  for  a  Quarterly 


374  SAMUEL  IREN^US   PRIME. 

Review  would  stumble  hopelessly  in  the  effort  to  repro- 
duce the  tone  of  familiar  and  intelligent  conversation  in 
a  readable  letter  of  a  column's  length.  To  be  natural 
without  being  obvious,  and  playful  without  becoming 
silly,  to  teach  without  being  tedious,  and  to  be  fresh  and 
vivacious  without  extravagance,  are  qualities  by  no 
means  common.  Yet  our  friend  had  them  all,  and  year 
after  year  he  poured  forth  a  continuous  stream  of  such 
articles,  never  repeating  himself,  never  falling  far  below 
his  average,  and  often  rising  greatly  above  it. 

It  remains  for  me  to  say  a  word  respecting  Dr. 
Prime's  intercourse  with  his  ministerial  brethren.  This 
was  always  pleasant  and  helpful.  It  was  a  great  gratifi- 
cation to  him  when,  cut  off  from  the  possibility  of  hav- 
ing a  pulpit  of  his  own,  he  was  able  to  render  service 
on  occasion  to  those  who  required  aid  in  fulfilling  their 
office.  In  advanced  years  the  state  of  his  health  pre- 
vented this  from  being  often  done.  But  it  rarely  hin- 
dered him  from  attending  the  weekly  gatherings  of  a 
clerical  association  in  this  city,  now  more  than  half  a 
century  old.  Here  his  presence  was  a  conspicuous  and 
most  agreeable  feature.  He  never  seemed  out  of  spir- 
its. His  good  humor  was  pervading  and  infectious. 
His  recollections  of  men  and  things  were  so  vivid  and 
so  ready,  and  his  knowledge  of  affairs  so  complete  and 
accurate  that  no  subject  was  ever  started  on  which  he 
could  not  throw  some  needed  light  and  give  some  shin- 
ing illustration.  His  wit  coruscated,  his  playfulness 
was  exuberant,  yet  never  excessive.  In  the  greatest 
mirth  or  in  reciting  the  most  amusing  incident  he  never 
forgot  the  dignity  of  a  Christian  minister.  He  was 
cheerful  himself,  and  the  cause  of  an  untold  amount  of 
cheerfulness    in  others.     There  is  no    member    of  that 


DEATH   AND   COMMEMORATION.  375 

circle  who  will  not  feel  that  the  joy  of  its  fellowship  has 
been,  at  least  for  the  time,  eclipsed  by  the  removal  of 
our  genial,  kind,  and  lively  associate,  whose  years  did 
not  quench  or  lessen  his  vivacity,  and  whose  experience 
was  so  varied  and  entertaining. 


APPENDIX. 


PUBLICATIONS   OF   REV.  S.  IREN^US   PRIME,  D.D. 

This  catalogue  of  Dr.  Prime's  printed  works  is  taken 
from  Rev.  Dr.  E.  D.  G.  Prime's  volume,  "  Prime  Family 
Records,"  printed  for  private  use,  il 


To  say  that  Dr.  Prime  was  a  voluminous  writer,  is  to  give 
little  idea  of  the  number  and  variety  of  the  productions  of  his 
pen,  or  of 'their  wide  circulation.  In  addition  to  his  weekly 
writings  in  the  "  New  York  Observer  "  continued  for  nearly  half 
a  century,  and  his  contributions  to  numerous  other  periodicals, 
he  was  constantly  called  upon  to  prepare  papers  for  religious, 
benevolent,  and  literary  societies  and  objects.  Besides  volumes 
of  sermons  and  other  selections  which  he  edited,  the  following 
list  is  made  up  from  original  volumes  which  were  written  chiefly 
in  the  midst  of  other  arduous  labors.  No  attempt  has  been 
made  to  catalogue  the  numerous  articles  which  he  prepared  for 
magazines  and  reviews.  Several  of  his  volumes  were  reprinted 
and  extensively  circulated  in  foreign  countries.  After  nearly 
twenty  thousand  copies  of  one  of  his  books  on  Prayer  had  been 
published  in  this  country,  it  was  reprinted  in  England,  where 
one  hundred  thousand  copies  were  sold  by  a  single  publishing 
house.  Two  distinct  translations  of  the  same  book  were  pub- 
lished in  France ;  it  was  issued  from  the  press  in  India  in  the 
Tamil  language,  and  in  Dutch  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 


378  SAMUEL  IREN^.US   PRIME. 

Elizabeth  Thornton  :  The  Flower  and  Fruit  of  Early  Piety. 
New  York:  M.  W.  Dockl.     1840.     pp.  208. 

Records  of  a  Village  Pastor.  Massachusetts  Sabbath-School 
Society.     1843.     PP-  228. 

The  Prodigal  Reclaimed  ;  or,  The  Sinner's  Ruin  and  Recov- 
ery.    Mass.  S.  S.  Society.     1843.     PP-  220. 

The  Martyr  Missionary  of  Erromanga  ;  or,  The  Life  of  John 
Williams.  Abridged.  American  Sunday-School  Union. 
1844.     pp.  270. 

The  LriTLE  Burnt'  Girl  :  A  Memoir  of  Catharine  Howell. 
Am.  S.  S.  Union.     1845.     PP-  ^9- 

George  Somerville  ;  or.  The  Boy  who  would  be  a  Minister. 
Am.  S.  S.  Union.     1846.     pp.  88. 

Guide  to  the  Saviour.  Am.  S.  S.  Union.  1846.  pp.  96. 
(Republished  by  the  London  Religious  Tract  Society.) 

The  Old  White  Meeting-House  ;  or,  Reminiscences  of  a 
Country  Congregation.     Robert  Carter.     1846.     pp.  240. 

Life  in  New  York.  Robert  Carter  &  Brothers.    1846.   pp.  240. 

The  Gospel  among  the  Bechuanas  and  other  Tribes  of  South- 
ern Africa.     Am.  S.  S.  Union.     1846.     pp.  296. 

The  Nestorians  of  Persia;  with  an  Account  of  the  Massa- 
cres by  the  Koords.     Am.  S.  S.  Union.     1846.     pp.  173. 

The  Highland  Pastor  :  a  Sequel  to  George  Somerville.  pp. 
197.     Am.  S.  S.  Union.     1847.     PP-  ^97- 

Henry  Wood  ;  or,  The  First  Step  in  the  Downward  Road. 
Am.  S.  S.  Union.     1848.     pp.  144. 

Bosses  and  Their  Boys  ;  or,  The  Duties  of  Masters  and  Ap- 
prentices.    Am.  S.  S.  Union.     1853.     pp.  144. 

Sabbath  Songs  :  for  the  Use  of  Families  and  Sunday-Schools. 
Leavitt  «&  Allen.     1853. 

Thoughts  on  the  Death  of  Little  Children  ;  with  an  Ap- 
pendix selected  from  Various  Authors.  Anson  D.  F.  Ran- 
dolph.    1865.     pp.  180. 


APPENDIX.  379 

Travels  in  Europe  and  the  East.  With  engravings.  Two 
vols.    i2mo,  pp.  405,  444.     Harper  &  Brothers.     1855. 

Letters  from  Switzerland.    Sheldon  &  Co.    i860,    pp.  264. 

The  Power  of  Prayer,  Illustrated  in  the  Fulton-Street 
Prayer-Meetings  and  Elsewhere.  New  York.  Charles 
Scribner :  1858.  The  same,  enlarged  edition,  Scribner, 
Armstrong  &  Co.  1873.  PP-  4^8.  The  same,  repubhshed 
in  London;  in  Paris,  in  French,  1859;  in  Cape  of  Good 
Hope  in  Dutch ;  in  East  Indies,  in  Tamil. 

The  Bible  in  the  Levant;  or,  The  Life  and  Letters  of  the 
Rev.  C.  N.  Righter,  agent  of  the  American  Bible  Society  in 
the  Levant.     New  York  :  Sheldon  &  Co.     1859.     pp.  336. 

Five  Years  of  Prayer,  with  the  Answers.  Harper  &  Brothers. 
1864.     pp.  395- 

Fifteen  Years  of  Prayer  in  the  Fulton-Street  Meeting.  Scrib- 
ner, Armstrong  &  Co.     1872.     pp.  345. 

American   Wit   and   Humor.      Harper  &   Brothers.      1859. 

pp.  206. 
Anderson's   Annals   of   the  English  Bible.     Abridged  and 

continued.     Robert  Carter  &  Brothers.     1849.     pp.  545. 

Memoirs  of  Rev.  Nicholas  Murray,  D.D.  (Kirwan).  Harper 
&  Brothers.     1862.     pp.  438. 

Memoirs  of  Mrs.  Joanna  Bethune.  By  her  Son,  Rev. 
George  W.  Bethune,  D.  D.  With  an  Appendix  containing 
Extracts  from  her  Writings.  Selected  and  edited  by  S.  I.  P. 
Harper  &  Brothers.     1863.     pp.  250. 

Walking  with  God:  The  Life  Hid  with  Christ.  A.  D.  F. 
Randolph  &  Co.     1872.     Republished  in  London,  1872. 

The  Alhambra  and  the  Kremlin  :  The  South  and  the  North 
of  Europe  contrasted.  A.  D.  F.  Randolph  &  Co.  1873. 
pp.  482. 

Under  the  Trees.     Harper  &  Brothers.     1874.     pP' 313- 


38o  SAMUEL   IREN.EUS    PRIME. 

Songs  of  the  Soul  Gathered  out  of  Many  Lands  and  Ages. 
Robert  Carter  &  Brothers.     1874.     4to.     pp.  661. 

History  of  the  Sixth  General  Conference  of  the  Evan- 
gelical Alliance.     Harper  &  Brothers.     1874.    pp.773. 

Life  of  S.  F.  B.  Morse,  LL.D.,  Inventor  of  the  Electric 
Magnetic  Recording  Telegraph.  D.  Appleton  &  Co.'  8vo. 
pp.   776. 

Iren/eus  Leiters.  Originally  published  in  the  "  New  York 
Observer."  Published  by  the  "New York  Observer."  Series 
L,  1880;  pp.  400.  Series  H.,  1885,  with  a  sketch  of  the 
life  of  Rev.  S.  Irenaeus  Prime,  D.D.,  pp.  388. 

Prayer  and  its  Answer,  Illustrated  in  the  Twenty-five  Years 
of  the  Fulton-Street  Prayer-Meeting.  Charles  Scribner's 
Sons.     1882. 

Among  his  public  addresses  which  were  separately  published 
are,  "  Address  at  the  Opening  of  the  Newark  Library  Building, 
Feb.  21,  1848;"  "  Presbyterianism  in  the  United  States  of 
America,"  read  at  the  Presbyterian  General  Council,  Edin- 
burgh, July,  1877;  "The  Church  of  Rome,"  a  speech  in  the 
Presbyterian  General  Assembly,  Saratoga,  May  26,  1879 ; 
"  Address  on  the  Erection  of  the  Franklin  Statue,  Printing- 
House  Square,  New  York,  Jan.  17,  1872;"  "Address  before 
the  British  Organization  of  the  Evangelical  Alliance,  Bath, 
England,  October,  1866." 


INDEX. 


INDEX. 


Adams,  D.D.,  William,    265,  293, 

301-307,  308,  309,  314. 
Alden,  John,  22. 

Alexander,  D.D.,  Archibald,   194. 
Alexander,  D.D.,  James  W.,  195. 
American  Bible  Society,  231. 
Amsterdam  Conference,  289. 
Atterbury,  D.D.,  W.  W.,  340. 

Ballston  Centre,  N.  Y.,  14. 

Ballston  Spa,  205-218,  327. 

Bates,  President,  151. 

Bath  (Eng.).  280. 

Bedford,  N.  Y.,  198. 

Bethune,  D.D.,  George  W.,  145,  146, 

269-273,  2>7. 
Bethune,  Joanna,  272. 
Bishop,  Nathan,  291. 
Blaikie,  D.D.,  W.  G.,  303. 
Breckinridge,  D.D.,  Robert  J.,  232. 
Bright,  D.D.,  Edward,  353. 
Brinsmade,   D.D.,  Horatio  N.,  240, 

241,  242. 
Brooks,  D.D.,  Arthur,  338. 
Brown,  James,  308. 
Browning,  Mrs.  E.  B.,  245. 
Bryant,  W.  C,  306,  308,  309. 
Buckley,  D.D.,  James  M.,  356. 
Bullions,  D.D.,  Alexander,  28,  177. 
Buttermilk  Falls,  227. 

Calhoun,   D.D.,  Simeon  H.,  167- 

170,  259,  262,  305,  308,  309. 
Cambridge,  N.  Y.,  16,  38,  etc. 
Carter  &  Brothers,  Robt.,  285. 
Chambers,  D.D.,  Talbot  W.,  365. 
Chi  Alpha,  268. 
Coe,  D.D.,  Edward  B.,  365. 
Cone,  D.D.,  Spencer  H.,  311-312. 
Cooper,  Peter,  308,  309. 
Cox,  D.D.,  Samuel  Hanson,  263, 277. 


Crane,  Rev.  Jonathan,  256. 
Crittenden,  Professor,  263. 
Crooks,  D.D.,  George,  322. 
Crosby,  D.D.,  Howard,  291. 
Cummings,  D.D.,  J.  W.,  316-318. 

Daggett,  Judge,  201. 

Dana,  Richard  H.,  306. 

De  Tocqueville,  M.,  185-187. 

Dill,  Rev.  S.  M.,  277. 

Dobbs     Ferry    on     the     Hudson, 

280. 
Dodge,  Jr.,  William  E.,  337,  339. 
Dunihue,  John,  146,  147. 
Durbin,  D.  D.,  John  P.,  322,  323. 
Dwight,  D.D.,  Timothy,  203. 

East  Hampton,  L.  I.,  34. 
Eaton,  Professor,  263. 
Edgar,  Rev.  Dr.,  277. 
Edinburg,  280. 
Emerson,  Ralph  Waldo,  244. 
Evangelical  Alliance,  277,  280,  289- 
297,  2,2>7- 

Fairfield,  Conn.,  201. 
Fairfield,  Rev.  Thomas,  254. 
Ferris,  D.D.,  Chancellor,  271. 
Field,  Cyrus  W.,  277. 
Fishing  Billy,  143-145. 
Fisk,  Pliny,  27. 
Freehold,  N.  J.,  9. 
Frelinghuysen,  Theodore,  9. 

Gladstone,  W.  E.,  304. 
Graham,  Isabella,  271,  272. 
Greene,  Rev.  Jacob,  198. 
Greenfield  Hill,  199,  203. 
Griffin,  D.D.,  E.  Dorr,  159,  163-166, 

171,  172. 
Gunn,  Lewis  C,  192,  193. 


3«4 


INDEX. 


Hagenav,  Rev.  Dr.,  32:;. 

Hague,  D.D.,  William,  31  r. 

Hall,  D.D.,  John,  314. 

Hall,  D.D.,  John  G.,  255. 

Harper  &  Brothers,  263,  272,  287. 

Harper,  Fletcher,  320,  321. 

Harper,  James,  320. 

Harper,  John,  320. 

Harper,  Wesley,  320. 

Hastings,    D.D.,   Thomas   S..    331, 

334- 
Hawley,  Gen'l.  Joseph  R.,  239. 
Hemenway,  M.D.,  L.  H.,  328. 
Hill,  Rev.  George  E.,  257,  259. 
Hitchcock,  D.D.,  Roswell  D.,  314. 
Hoffman,  Gov.  John  T.,  182. 
Hopkins,  D.D.,  Mark,  160. 
Huntington,  L.  I.,  6,  7,  8. 

Ingersoll,  J.  R.,  9. 

Jacobus,    D.D.,    Melancthon    W., 

253- 
Jay,  Hon.  Peter  A.,  312. 
Jermain,  James  13.,  26,  151. 
Jermain,  John  P.,  26,  175. 
Jermain,  Julia  Ann  (Introd.  iii),  4. 
Johnston,  D.D.,  John,  220,  221,  22S, 

229. 

Kemeys,  Elizabeth  Thornton,   198, 

204. 
King,  Seymour,  154. 
Kinney,  Mrs.  E.  C,  245. 
Kinney,  Hon.  Wm.  B.,  243-246. 
Kirk,  D.D.,  Edward  N.,  217.      .. 

Ledyard,  John,  14. 
Le.xington,  Battle  of,  302. 
Lexington,  Ky.,  281,  370. 
Litchfield,  Conn.,  344,  352. 

M'Clintock,  D.  D.,  John,  322,  323, 

324- 
McCosh,  President,  354. 
Manchester,  Vt.,  327-330. 
Marsh,  Hon.  George  P.,  259. 
Mason,  Lowell,  81. 
Matteawan,  N.  Y.,  222-231. 
Middlelniry  College,  27,  151,  157. 
Milburn,  D.D.,  W.  H.  322. 
Milford,  Conn.,  6. 
Miller,  D.D.,  Samuel,  194. 
Milnor,  D.D.  James,  378. 


Milton,  X.  Y.,  14-18. 

Mitchell,  Prof.  O.  M.,  267,  277. 

Morse,  Richard  C,  256. 

Morse,  Sidney  E.,  264. 

Morse,  Jr.,  Sidney  E.,  283. 

Morse,  Prof.  S.  F.  B.,  234,  277,  2S3. 

Muhlenberg,   D.D.,   Wm.   A.   305- 

310. 
Murray,   D.D.,  Nicholas  (Kirwan), 

161,  246-248,  277. 

Nettleton,  Rev.  Mr.,  192. 
Newark,  N.  J.,  239-249. 
Newburgh,  N.  Y.,  218-221,  291. 

Observer,  N.  Y.,  231  etscq. 

Old  White  Meeting  House,  17,  38- 

47- 
Ormiston,  D.D.,  William,  336. 

Parker,  D.D.,  Joel,  277. 
Parsons,  Levi,  27,  28,  29. 
Pa.xton,  D.D.,  John  R.,  331. 
Perrv,  Rev.  Mr.,  184,  185. 
Plumer,  D.D.,  William  S.,  281. 
Porter,  Rev.  Stephen,  14,  15. 
Pratt,  Judge,  176,  177. 
Presbyterian    (The     Philadelphia), 

28  i. 
Prime,  M.D.,  Alanson  J.,  188,  189. 
Prime,  M.D.,  Benjamin  Young,  6. 
Prime,  D.D.,  E.  D.  G.,  195,  233,  282, 

377- 
Prime,  Rev.  Ebenezer,  6. 
Prime,  Helen  Lefferts,  291. 
Prime,  Julia  Jermain,  287. 
Prime,  Nathaniel,  12. 
Prime,  D.D.,  Nathaniel  Scudder,  3, 

50  et  scq.,  222. 
Prime,    D.D.,    Wendell,    161,   2S2, 

2S9,  364. 
Prime,  LL.D.,  William  C,  328. 
Princeton,  N.  J.,  9,  192-196. 
Publications  of  Irenaeus,  377. 

Randolph,  A.  D.  F.,  2S4,  285. 
Rankin,  J.  J.,  257,  258. 
Remington,  Rev.  Mr.,  190,  191. 
Righter,  Rev.  Chester  N.,  257,  259- 

262. 
Root,  Rev.  Marvin,  199. 
Rowley,  Mass.,  7. 
Rumford,  Count,  8. 
Russell.  Charles  H.,  30S. 


INDEX. 


385 


Sag  Harbor,  3,  4. 

Saratoga  Springs,  281,  327. 

Schaff,  D.  D.,  Philip,  290,  292,  340. 

Scudder,  Nathaniel,  9,  10. 

Scudder,  Peter,  9,  10. 

Seaver,  W.  A.,  316,  318. 

Seely,  Deacon,  199. 

Shepherd,  Fayette,  3c. 

Sherman,  Roger  M.,  201,  202. 

Sing  Sing,  N.  Y.,  34. 

Skinner,  D.D.,  Thomas  H.,  366. 

Small,  Deacon,  75,  76. 

Smith,  Prof.  H.  B.,  290,  366. 

Smith,  M.D,,  L.  A.,  240. 

Smith,  D.D.,  Lowell,  173. 

Smith,  Samuel  Stanhope,  11. 

Spring,  D.D.,  Gardiner,   278 

Steinway  Hall,  293. 

Stevens,  D.D.,  Abel,  322. 

Stewart,  Joseph,  71,  154. 

Stoddard,  D.D.,  C.  A.,  282,  288,  329. 

Stoddard,  Mrs.  C.  A.,  329. 

Stone,  David  M.,  233. 

Storrs,  D.D.,  Richard  S.,  341. 

Strong,  Judge  William,  13. 

Stuart,  George,  277. 

Stuart,  James,  277. 

Tappan  Sea,>  5. 
Taylor,  D.D.,  William  M.,  313. 
Tennent,  Rev.  Gilbert,  180. 
Terry,  Rev.  David,  319,  320. 


Thompson,  Col.  Benjamin,  8. 
Thompsou,  John,  277. 
Thornwell,  D.D.,  James  H.,  281. 
Tomlinson,  Gov.,  204. 
Tyler,  Prof.  Moses  Coit,  286. 

"Under  the  Trees,"  287. 

Van  Dyke,D.D.,  Henry  J.,  263. 
Van  Tuyl,  Abraham,  71,  72. 

Ward,  Gen'l  Aaron,  181,  189. 
Warner,  Kirtland,  71,  155,  156. 
Watson,  Rev.  Mr.,  183,  184. 
Wedekind,  D.D.,  A.  C,  338. 
Wells  College,  N.  Y.,  361. 
Wells,  Daniel,  154. 
West  Presbyterian  Church,  330. 
Weston,  Conn.,  197-204. 
Whitehead,  Hon.  Wm.  A.,  240,  242, 

243- 
White,  Norman,  291. 
White  Plains,  280. 
Wickham,  D.D.,  J.  D.,  328. 
Williams,  Eloisa  L.,  217. 
Williams,  George,  138-142. 
Williams,  Rev.  John,  311. 
Williams,  D.D.,  Wm.  R.,  310-315. 
Williamstown,  Mass.,  157-174,  327. 
Wilson,  Rev.  David,  277. 
Woodlawn  Cemetery,  337. 


University  Press  :  John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge. 


Date  Due 

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